Scotland has unveiled world's largest free stream tidal power project, MeyGen, majority owned by Atlantis Resources in the Pentland Firth.

The project is considered to be the largest tidal power project in the world and will supply 398MW of offshore tidal energy to the grid.  

Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited the MeyGen project to unveil the first turbine which will be installed at the project.

The company showcased four of the 1.5MW tidal turbines at the quayside at Nigg, Highlands. Each turbine weighs 200 tonnes, with rotor diameter of 18 meters.

After the unveiling, the turbines and their foundations, each weighing more than 1,000 tonnes, will be transported to the project site in the Pentland Firth through a DP2 jack-up vessel, operated by Geosea, a subsidiary of the DEME Group.

Atlantis Resources CEO Tim Cornelius said: “Today marks a historic milestone not just for Atlantis and our project partners, but for the entire global tidal power industry.

“This is the day the tidal power industry announced itself as the most exciting new asset class of renewable, sustainable generation in the UK’s future energy mix.”

Scotland has provided £23m funding to the first phase of the MeyGen project.

The unveiling of turbines follows the connection of the project to the National Grid at the Ness of Quoys distribution network in June 2016.

It follows the installation of 33kV power export cables by Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution, which is the network operator.

Atlantis is expecting to supply first power from the MeyGen Phase 1A to the grid later this year.

After completion of the entire project, the MeyGen project will feature 269 turbines and generate enough tidal energy to meet power requirement of 175,000 UK homes.

The Scottish government noted that the marine renewables projects from Atlantis and Sound of Islay projects can add £275m in revenue to Scotland’s economy.

The First Minister noted that the uncertainty of UK government’s stand on subsidies for marine renewables is putting the projects’ development at risk.

Nicola Sturgeon said: “I am incredibly proud of Scotland’s role in leading the way in tackling climate change and investment in marine renewables is a hugely important part of this.

“MeyGen is set to invigorate the marine renewables industry in Scotland and provide vital jobs for a skilled workforce, retaining valuable offshore expertise here in Scotland that would otherwise be lost overseas.

“Highly skilled operation and maintenance jobs will also need to be carried out locally, providing strong local employment opportunity for rural areas. There is no doubt that the eyes of the world are on this project which is why the Scottish Government’s investment is so crucially important.”

She also reminded UK government to honour its earlier commitment to provide ring-fenced allocation for marine energy under its renewables support scheme.

Image: ABB was selected to provide onshore grid connection for Phase I of the MeyGen tidal stream project. Photo: Courtesy of ABB.