MeyGen is today announcing its entry into the Saltire Prize and welcomes the opportunity to challenge for this significant accolade. Meygen’s entry coincides with the launch of the Saltire Prize Grand Challenge Period, which is being formally announced today in Orkney by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond.
The MeyGen project is the largest tidal energy development in Europe to seek “consent to build” from a government. The project is located in the Inner Sound in the Pentland Firth off the northern coast of Caithness, home to one of Europe’s largest tidal stream resources. MeyGen plans to build the project in two phases. In the first phase, which ultimately aims to produce 86MW, MeyGen plans to start construction of an initial array of approximately 6 tidal energy turbines in 2014/15.
Dan Pearson, CEO of MeyGen Ltd. commented “The bar set by the Scottish Government for this prestigious award is a high one. The challenge requires highly efficient devices, strong energy resource and robust technical capability that is comparable to more conventional renewable energy power stations. We relish the challenge that lies ahead and commend the Scottish Government for its foresight and determination to make Marine Energy a part of the UK energy generation mix and a sustainable industry for ours and future generations”.
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Offshore WIND staff, August 28, 2012; Image: meygen