MeyGen tidal power project buoys Atlantis' interim results

Sustainable power specialist Simec Atlantis Energy has halved its interim losses, buoyed by the performance of its MeyGen project in the Pentland Firth.

All of Atlantis' business units have delivered an 'exceptional performance,' says CEO Tim Cornelius. Picture: Ian Georgeson.

The Aim-quoted firm, which has a base in Edinburgh’s Fountainbridge, said that in the six months to 30 June, its pre-tax loss reached £6.1 million, almost half the £11.8m loss incurred in the same period in 2019.

It said the improvement is largely attributable to strong revenue contributions generated by the Atlantis tidal turbine and engineering services division, “together with good performance from the MeyGen project in Scotland”.

The group said the six megawatt first phase of the tidal power initiative has now exported more than 33 gigawatt hours to the grid, enough to charge more than 750,000 standard electric vehicles. Atlantis also said six months of revenue contributions from its hydro arm boosted its improved financial performance.

Overall, costs were in line with expectations with “significant” contractors’ costs being incurred delivering the subsea hub project and the AR500 turbine for Japan, as well as ongoing Uskmouth operational costs. The latter entails the conversion of a coal-fired power station in Wales into one fuelled by waste-derived fuel pellets.

All in all, the energy group said that despite the major global economic and social challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, “we have maintained a high level of activity across each of our business units, and we continue to see encouraging progress on all key projects notwithstanding all of the logistical and workplace challenges Covid-19 social distancing restrictions present”.

It added: “In particular, we note the major technical, planning and commercial milestones that have been achieved recently on the Uskmouth power station conversion project, our recent entry into the NPA Fuels joint venture with the N+P Group, the performance from the MeyGen project in Scotland and the recent over-subscribed equity placement in August 2020.” The latter raised gross proceeds of about £7.5m, funding the company’s working capital requirements.

Atlantis chief executive Tim Cornelius said that in these “unprecedented times we have continued to make material progress on our important portfolio of projects, where we connect carbon-cutting projects with industries looking to ensure that they can reduce their carbon intensity and be at the forefront of the green agenda”.

He added: “Each of our business units, being tidal energy, hydro power and power station conversions, have delivered exceptional performance under challenging conditions.”

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