Atlantis Successfully Decommissions 1.2 MW SeaGen Tidal System in Industry First

26 July 2019

SIMEC ATLANTIS ENERGY LIMITED
(“Atlantis”)
Atlantis Successfully Decommissions 1.2 MW SeaGen Tidal System in Industry First

SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited, the global developer, owner and operator of sustainable energy projects, is pleased to announce that it has successfully decommissioned the SeaGen tidal turbine support structure in Strangford Narrows, Northern Ireland. This marks the completion of the 1.2MW SeaGen tidal stream energy project lifecycle and is the first commercial scale tidal turbine development to be fully decommissioned.

Specialist UK-based marine business Keynvor MorLift ltd. (KML) was appointed as the Principal Contractor to carry out the decommissioning engineering, planning and offshore works. The final major lift operations included the rigging, cutting and lifting of the over 500 tonne structure by KML which was safely and expertly executed at Strangford Lough.

The surface piercing tidal SeaGen system was installed in 2008 and became the world’s first commercial scale, electricity generating, grid connected tidal stream project. It exported over 11.6GWh of power during its useful life and the lessons learned from the project have underpinned both present and future global tidal turbine development whilst helping to shape the success of MeyGen, the world’s largest multi-megawatt tidal stream array. MeyGen has now exported circa 19GWh of electricity to the national grid and its total system availability, a key performance metric, is approaching 90% for 2019 to date.

The first phase of decommissioning SeaGen started in May 2016 with the removal of the system’s two 600kW Powertrains. In August 2018 the topsides and crossbeam were removed, and final works were completed with the successful removal of the remaining tower and subsea structure.

Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis, commented:

SeaGen’s successful decommission represents a major milestone moment for the tidal power industry. Not only has it validated the complete project lifecycle of a tidal stream energy development, moreover, we have done so with a tidal stream project of full commercial scale, that was connected to the grid. I would like to pay tribute to the skill and expertise of the team at Atlantis and at Keynvor MorLift for delivering this truly impressive feat of engineering.”

Enquiries:

SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited	via FTI Consulting
Tim Cornelius, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Dagley, Chief Financial Officer
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	+44 (0)20 7894 7000
Rick Thompson Richard Salmond David Porter
J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Joint Broker)              James Deal Michael Wentworth Stanley	+44 (0)20 7742 4000
FTI Consulting	+44 (0)20 3727 1000
Ben Brewerton Alex Beagley Molly Stewart

Notes to Editors

SIMEC Atlantis Energy 

 SIMEC Atlantis Energy is the global developer, owner and operator of sustainable energy projects with a diverse portfolio of more than 1,000 megawatts in various stages of development. This includes a 77% stake in the world’s largest tidal stream power project, MeyGen, and 100% ownership of the 220MW Uskmouth power station conversion project

www.saerenewables.com