Atlantis Resources has reinstalled the third Andritz Hydro Hammerfest (AHH) tidal turbine for the MeyGen tidal energy project which is approaching a 2GWh milestone of tidal power generation.
The third AHH turbine was reinstalled during the neap tide earlier this week, the Edinburgh-based tidal energy developer informed.
With the most recent installation, all three AHH turbines, which were recovered earlier this year following an initial period of operations to enable AHH to implement system enhancements, have now been successfully reconnected to the grid.
Total production from the MeyGen project, located in the Pentland Firth, off Scotland, since the launch in July 2017 is approaching 2GWh, setting a new world record for monthly production from a tidal stream power station with over 700MWh generated this month, according to Atlantis.
David Taaffe , Director of Project Delivery at MeyGen, said: “August proved to be a world record month, providing enough energy to power 2,000 Scottish homes from just two turbines. With yet another successful installation campaign expertly completed this week by the Atlantis operations team, we expect to continue to break records throughout the rest of the year generating both predictable power and revenue.”
When it comes to the fourth and final tidal turbine to be added as part of the MeyGen’s Phase 1A, the AR1500 , Atlantis said it experienced some minor delays in receiving upgrade components and is now expected to be reinstalled during the next neap tide in late September.
The AR1500 turbine will then enter into its final contractual performance and autonomous reliability tests after which it will be signed off for the start of long term operation, Atlantis said.
Each turbine for the Phase 1A of the project is rated at 1.5MW, and Atlantis expects that this phase of the project will be operating at its full 6MW capacity from the end of this year’s third quarter.