Last night, the 398MW MeyGen project was awarded the first
ever ‘Navigator Award’ at the International Conference on Ocean Energy
(ICOE), in recognition of the project’s significant contribution to global
marine renewable industry.
The highly prestigious Award was awarded to the MeyGen
Project, which is 86 percent owned by Atlantis Resources, at the International
Conference on Ocean Energy, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Dan Pearson, CEO of MeyGen was delighted to receive the
award. He said: “At MeyGen, we are both thrilled and challenged to
accept the ICOE 2014 Navigator award and recognition. We know that the
eyes of the world are on our project, but we know we are solving lots of
problems for the first time!”
The International Conference on Ocean Energy is held in
even years and is the world developer conference for the wave and tidal
industry. With 120 exhibitors in a tradeshow and more than 650 delegates
from 25 countries, it is a benchmark event for this emerging industry.
Chris Campbell, chair of ICOE’s international organisers,
remarked “MeyGen is the first project to secure leasing, environmental
permitting, technology supply, power purchase and financial close agreements.
The project has momentum and has potential to grow into an industrial-scale
power plant.”
“Scotland, France, Ireland and Nova Scotia are the
places to watch for these prototype tidal power projects” said Elisa
Obermann of Marine Renewables Canada, the national organization hosting
the fifth ICOE, for the first time outside Europe.
In its first phase, the MeyGen project will install four
1.5MW turbines offshore and construct the onshore infrastructure to support
the project. Three of the turbines will be supplied by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest
and one Lockheed Martin-designed turbine supplied by Atlantis. When fully
operational, the 398MW tidal array will generate the electricity to power
175,000 Scottish homes by early 2020.