Orkney tidal firm praised for using local workers

The MeyGen project, to be situated between Orkney and the Scottish mainland coastline, is the largest planned tidal development in the world at 398 megawatts of total installed capacity when fully constructed.

The MeyGen array will consist of 269 submerged tidal turbines.

The minister visited the site to witness first-hand the onshore and offshore construction works taking place, and spoke to infrastructure team on the ground about the engineering aspects of this visionary marine project.

Energy minister Fergus Ewing with Maygen director Cameron Smith

Mr Ewing said: “This is an exciting, first-of-a-kind project. I am pleased to be here in Caithness to meet the team and see how the onshore construction works are progressing.

“I am heartened to see the involvement of home-grown companies including JGC, Global Energy Group, John Gunn & Sons Ltd, James Fisher and Leask Marine, and I very much hope there will be further opportunities for the Scottish supply chain.

“When fully operational this tidal stream array could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 175,000 homes.”

Cameron Smith, director of project development at Atlantis, said: “The MeyGen project represents the best of what Scotland has to offer when it comes to the energy infrastructure development - an integrated supply chain, state of the art manufacturing facilities, and world class engineering skills.

“We were truly honoured to host the Minister and thank him for his continued support on this project.”