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Scottish Energy Minister Meygen No-Show!

4C Offshore | Lewis Holdsworth
By: Lewis Holdsworth 29/07/2015 Atlantis Resources
MeyGen, today almost welcomed the Scottish Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, to its site in Caithness. The minister was unable to make it to the site this afternoon due to 'travel disruptions'. Atlantis will now re-schedule The minister's visit.

The minister’s visit would of coincided with a series of successful milestones completed by MeyGen, demonstrating that progress on the project is well underway and on schedule for delivery.

In particular, the visit would of marked the completion of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) of bore holes from the foreshore into the inner sound and down to the seabed, with successful subsea exits on all four bore holes. Each hole is 550 meters in length and will house power cables which will connect the subsea turbines to the onshore Power Conversion Centre.

Works on the onshore facilities have also taken a step forward with construction on the Power Conversion Centre starting this week. The Power Conversion Centre will take the power generated by the subsea turbines and feed it into the electricity grid.

Meanwhile, grid connection cable burial works along the 12 mile route from Hastigrow have also commenced.

Still upholding his comments, Fergus Ewing was going to say: “This is an exciting, first-of-a-kind project. The eyes of the global marine industry are on this project. I am heartened to see the involvement of home-grown companies including John Gunn & Sons Ltd and Leask Marine, and I very much hope there will be further opportunities for the Scottish supply chain. When fully operational this tidal stream array could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 175,000 homes."

Although the minister was unable to attend the site, he stood by his quote regarding the project.

MeyGen was one of the first tidal projects in the world to secure the necessary planning consent, lease agreement, grid connection and power purchase agreement in order to begin onshore and offshore construction. Atlantis Resources, the leading tidal project developer, is the majority owner of MeyGen.

The ground-breaking event at Ness of Quoys near Wick was attended by Ian Funnell, ABB’s UK Managing Director as well as MeyGen’s CEO Dan Pearson and representatives from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Ian Funnell said: “ABB’s participation in the MeyGen project positions us at the forefront of the emerging tidal energy sector. During the project, ABB will contribute its knowledge and experience of delivering grid connections in remote environments for the renewable energy sector.”

Dan Pearson, CEO of MeyGen, said: “The MeyGen project represents the best of what Scotland has to offer when it comes to the energy infrastructure development: an integrated supply chain, state of the art manufacturing facilities, and world class engineering skills. We are truly honoured to host the Minister and thank him for his continued support on this pioneering project."

Commenting from ABB Power Systems’ facility in Stone, Staffordshire, Stephen Trotter, Managing Director for ABB Power Systems in the UK said: “ABB is proud to contribute to the MeyGen project and to help develop Scotland’s leadership in tidal energy. Not only are we are coordinating from our Scottish engineering office in East Kilbride but we have also appointed local contractors wherever possible to support the Scottish supply chain.”

ABB is delivering the grid connection for the first 6 megawatt (MW) demonstration phase, which will include four submerged turbines in the Inner Pentland Firth, with first power expected to be delivered in 2016. 

ABB is responsible for the onshore power conversion and grid connection systems that will feed the electricity safely and reliably into the local distribution grid. During the project, ABB will design, engineer, supply and commission the power conversion equipment, switchgear and transformer as well as deliver associated civil engineering and cabling to connect MeyGen with the grid. 

To boost the Scottish supply chain ABB has engaged local contractors and suppliers to deliver its part of the project, including civil engineering contractor John Gunn & Sons Ltd, HRI architects and marine contractor Leask Marine. 

During the project ABB must take measures to protect the environment in and around the site and to minimise the impact on its neighbours. The Power Conversion Centre building has been designed to blend into the surrounding countryside and will feature water, waste and cooling systems that minimise its environmental impact. 

The initial phase of MeyGen has the potential to generate up to 86 MW of electricity, enough power for around 42,000 homes, potentially catering to the needs of almost 40 percent of households in the Highlands. Within a decade, MeyGen intends to deploy up to 398 MW of offshore tidal stream turbines in the Pentland Firth to supply clean and renewable electricity for 175,000 homes. 

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