SIMEC Atlantis Energy has decreased the overall financial loss for the first six months of fiscal 2022, despite the results having been adversely impacted by the service outages at the MeyGen tidal energy project.
The overall loss before tax of £8.6 million (€9.7 million) for the six months ended 30 June 2022 has been decreased for the company, when compared to the loss of £10.7 million (€12.1 million) reported for the same period in 2021.
The reduction in loss was mainly as a result of the restructuring implemented during the second half of 2021, that resulted in a significant reduction in costs and various asset impairments, according to SIMEC Atlantis.
However, the company did confirm that the results were adversely impacted by the service outages of three of the four turbines at MeyGen tidal energy project during the first half of the year.
The position is expected to improve during the second half of the year with contributions from the two turbines that have been redeployed in March and September .
The unaudited consolidated cash position of SIMEC Atlantis at the end of the reporting period was £4.1 million (€4.6 million), as opposed to £3.8 million (€4.3 million) last year.
Commenting on the results, Graham Reid , CEO of SIMEC Atlantis, said: “At the beginning of 2022 the business set three key priorities: win a Contract for Difference (CfD) to deliver further deployment of turbines at our MeyGen site; release value at the Uskmouth site by developing a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project; and lay the foundations to take the lessons learnt from the Uskmouth conversion project to develop a pipeline of new opportunities.
“I’m very pleased to report we are making excellent progress with each of these. We have been successful in the UK Government’s application round 4 and have secured the CfD for our MeyGen project for 28MW at a strike price of £178.54/MWh . This is by far the largest tidal stream project, with secured revenue support, anywhere in the world.
“The site is already home to the world’s largest tidal array, and we have just successfully redeployed the third of four turbines at site. This year the site accounted for around 70% of the global tidal stream total output. The project has the potential to deliver tidal stream energy at scale, with huge opportunity for our business, our shareholders and all those involved with the tidal industry.”
Reid confirmed the MeyGen project remains a key priority for the company , noting also it remains on schedule for the redeployment of the final turbine, which will return the MeyGen Phase 1 array to full power of 6MW.
“This turbine will be retrofitted with a wet mate connection system, which more than halves the costs of future turbine recoveries and deployments,” Reid said.