THE company behind the MeyGen tidal stream project in the Pentland Firth is set to start manufacturing a new-style turbine which it hopes will reduce its operating costs. Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) and a privately-owned specialist engineering firm from Spain’s Bay of Biscay have been conducting research and development on the initiative for almost a year and are now ready to give it the go-ahead. The plan by SAE and its Spanish partner Asturfeito, which involves full-scale testing, could help reduce the cost of the technology. The Spanish firm, which was founded in 1989, employs about 250 people and operates from four large workshops near the city of Aviles in the indusrial Asturias region. Cutting the cost of generating electricity from the MeyGen site in the Inner Sound is a key aim of Simec Atlantis. The scheme has been awarded about €1 million from two European Union funds.
John O Groat Journal 27th Nov 2020 read more »