ETA Bags MeyGen Contract from Atlantis

SIMEC Atlantis Energy has awarded a contract to ETA Limited for the manufacture and delivery of the subsea tidal turbine connection system which will underpin the MeyGen extension activities known as Project Stroma.

The subsea hub will allow multiple turbines to be connected to a single power export cable, which will significantly reduce the costs associated with grid connection.

The length of power export cable as well as the amount of onshore conversion equipment required for grid connection will be significantly reduced, as will the amount of horizontal directional drilling required and the amount of vessel time required for cable installation, the company explained.

Project Stroma will connect two additional Atlantis AR2000 turbines via the new subsea hub to a single power export cable which will then be connected via the MeyGen substation to the National Grid.

Management are currently exploring a number of funding options for the capital expenditure associated with Project Stroma, including a potential issue of the company’s first listed bond.

Drew Blaxland, director of Turbine and Engineering Services Division, said: “The Atlantis subsea hub has been designed to deliver immediate, material reductions in the overall cost of tidal power generation. Leveraging technologies developed for the oil & gas and offshore wind industries, we have adapted tested products to our new turbine design to deliver an approximate 50% reduction in the CAPEX costs on a per turbine basis associated with turbine grid connection compared to MeyGen Phase 1.

“Further, this subsea hub has direct application to the growing floating offshore wind market globally. An adaption of our hub will be able to connect multiple floating offshore wind turbines in deep water, helping this industry on its cost down trajectory.”

Tim Cornelius, CEO of SIMEC Atlantis Energy, added: “The iconic MeyGen project is once again at the forefront of the development of the marine energy industry in Europe. Building on the success of our previous project specific bond issuance, we are currently in discussion with several regulated exchanges about the issuance of a debt instrument to fund Project Stroma which will in turn allow us to progress our plans to secure CfD allocations for future phases of the MeyGen project.”