Atlantis has returned two 'Agreements for Lease' (AFLs) to The Crown Estate, following a strategic internal review of the company's portfolio of tidal energy projects. The AFLs were for two areas of the seabed; the Anglesey Skerries site in Wales and the Kyle Rhea site in Scotland.
The decision to hand back the AFLs followed an internal project portfolio and site assessment review which has led to the decision to prioritise other sites that are currently under construction and/or closer to reaching financial close.
Atlantis CEO Tim Cornelius said: "This strategy will enable us to focus our resources on our most developed sites in order to drive progress and deliver continuous, clean, and predictable supplies of energy, quickly and at scale, to power homes and business throughout the UK and contribute towards the UK’s energy infrastructure needs."
"Due to the abundance of natural resource and a supportive government, Wales remains a jurisdiction of high interest to Atlantis and we will continue to actively seek out commercially and financially viable project development and investment opportunities and would welcome commercial approaches from any developer with commercial scale project locations in Wales."
Survey work and data from both project sites will be made publically available through The Crown Estate’s Marine Data Exchange in order to support the sustainable development of the seabed over the long term.