Key tidal acquisition

Atlantis describes the deal as the acquisition of a world class, iconic British tidal turbine business including extensive seabed rights, existing projects, staff and intellectual property.

It’s exciting news for the sector as it consolidates one of the largest portfolios of tidal current power projects in the United Kingdom under the Atlantis power generation business and moves the UK a big step closer to viable commercial-scale tidal power. The deal includes a portfolio of six projects expanding the Company’s footprint into Wales, Northern Ireland and Southern England. It affords Atlantis with additional potential project development capacity of 200MW augmenting existing capacity to nearly 600 MW of project pipeline creating one of the largest tidal project portfolios in the United Kingdom.

Included is the acquisition of MCT 1.2MW surface piercing tidal SeaGen system (SeaGen S), the world’s first utility scale electricity generating tidal stream project with the longest track record of generation having now been operating for over 5 years in Northern Ireland generating approximately 10 gigawatt hours of electricity and selling that electricity into the grid.

The acquisition also includes MCT’s extensive tidal turbine intellectual property portfolio and the designs for MCT’s turbines, including its next generation 1 MW fully submerged SeaGen turbine (SeaGen U) and its 1MW SeaGen system designed for floating deployment applications (SeaGen F).

These designs represent considerable investment by MCT into R&D over more than 15 years along with transitioned experienced staff and turbine hardware and testing equipment offer further value to wider Atlantis business

Atlantis Resources Limited, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last year, (LSE ticker: ARL) has also mentioned the establishment of dedicated turbine assembly facility to be located at Global Energy’s Nigg Energy Park in Ross-Shire, Scotland.

The ongoing working capital of MCT is to be financed by a loan package provided by leading Scottish energy services contractor Global Energy Group. Interest on the loan will accrue at the rate of 4.5% per annum and be rolled up and repayable in May 2018 at the same time as the principal amount.

Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis, commented: “We are delighted to be acquiring this leading British tidal power company from Siemens which firmly positions Atlantis as a leader in UK tidal power and globally. Marine Current Turbines has developed a world leading tidal turbine, a world class engineering team, unrivalled expertise in long-term turbine operations and testing through its SeaGen installation at Strangford Lough and an impressive portfolio of projects under development across the UK.

“We welcome Siemens as an Atlantis shareholder. This deal sees two industry leaders, MCT and Atlantis, combining to underpin the UK’s position as one of Europe’s tidal power leaders.”

Achim Woerner, CEO Hydro & Ocean Power at Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division, commented: “We are pleased that Atlantis, one of the strongest players in the comparatively new segment of tidal stream, has acquired Marine Current Turbines. This will enable the areas of competence of Marine Current Turbines, in particular its engineering capabilities, to be retained. Siemens will continue to cooperate with respect to component supply with MCT / Atlantis in the future.”

Gordon Ronaldson, Executive Vice President of Global Energy Group’s Process & Equipment business, commented: “We are delighted to have played a role in assisting in the consolidation of the tidal power market in the United Kingdom. There is a real opportunity through this acquisition to establish Scotland as the centre of excellence for the sector, in terms of IP ownership, project development and manufacturing. This is an important and exciting milestone in establishing Nigg as Scotland’s main construction and logistics base for offshore renewables. We look forward to welcoming the enlarged Atlantis group to Nigg Energy Park and to supporting their various projects in Scotland and throughout the UK.”

By Jake Frith