MeyGen Operations Update

RNS Number : 5196K

Atlantis Resources Limited

10 July 2017

 

Monday 10 July 2017

Atlantis Resources Limited

("Atlantis" or the "Company")

MeyGen Operations Update

Atlantis, a global leader in the marine power generation sector, provides an operational update for Phase 1A of the MeyGen project in the Pentland Firth following the recent successful reinstallation, reconnection and commencement of operation of two of the four turbines.

As previously announced, the three Andritz Hydro Hammerfest (AHH) turbines were recovered earlier this year following an initial period of operations to enable AHH to implement system enhancements derived from the lessons learned during installation and subsea commissioning.  Following this programme of turbine improvements, two of the three AHH turbines were successfully reinstalled and reconnected, and have recommenced power generation to the grid.

The third AHH turbine is due to be reinstalled during the next workable neap tide which is in August, together with the Atlantis AR1500 turbine.  The Atlantis turbine was also retrieved in the spring of this year to assess the effects of a prolonged grid connection outage which was caused by damage to part of the onshore power distribution network near the MeyGen site.  The cable damage has since been repaired and the site's grid export capacity has been restored.  After assessment of the turbine it was decided that one of the components of the turbine's pitching system should be replaced and upgraded as a result of the exposure to an unexpectedly long idle cycle.  

As commissioning and autonomous operation had been well progressed following initial installation, it is expected that full power will be achieved from each turbine soon after redeployment. The turbines will then enter into their final contractual performance and autonomous reliability tests after which they will be signed off for commencement of long term operations.  

It is expected that MeyGen Phase 1A will be operating autonomously at full 6 MW capacity by the end of Q3.

Tim Cornelius, Chief Executive of Atlantis, said:

"We are delighted that we have conducted another successful installation campaign and that we will soon have the array operating autonomously, generating predictable revenue. Both turbines have already operated at or close to full power since redeployment.

"Prior to retrieval of the turbines in the spring we had already achieved significant autonomous operation at full output and the power performance of both turbine types showed improvements over the contractual output guarantees.  We expect this to put the project on track to achieve capacity factors significantly in excess of 40%.

"We expect to be generating at full output from the end of Q3 and for the suppliers to fully hand over the turbines to the project operating team shortly thereafter."

 

Enquiries:

Atlantis Resources	via FTI Consulting
Tim Cornelius, Chief Executive Officer Simon Counsell, Chief Financial Officer
Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Adrian Trimmings Jock Maxwell Macdonald
Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited (Joint Broker) Raj Khatri Nick Stamp	[phone]
FTI Consulting	[phone]
Ben Brewerton Alex Beagley James Styles

 

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