(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - UK) Atlantis ResourcesLtd (LON:ARL) is making big waves in global tidal power and advancing its MeyGen site in north eastern Scotland apace - the largest such project currently being built anywhere.
It's a critical time for the company as the site is all set to deliver power to Scottish homes starting this summer.
Infrastructure investor on board
Latest news is that infrastructure investor Equitix is poised to become a cornerstone of the group's portfolio.
Under the agreement funds managed by Equitix will acquire at least 25% of each Atlantis project at financial close.
Equitix which currently has 1.7bn under management will also work with Atlantis to help find the rest of the money needed to build the projects.
The fund manager currently has stakes in 90 projects ranging from hospitals leisure centres and street lighting to public sector housing schools wind farms and biofuels.
Recently Atlantis which owns patents covering power generation and turbine technology has slimmed down its portfolio offshore Britain specifically so it can concentrate on its most developed sites like MeyGen.
Two agreements - for the Anglesey Skerries site in Wales and the Kyle Rhea site in Scotland - were surrendered back to The Crown Estate which owns over half of the UK's foreshore.
Aside from MeyGen the firm has held a tidal power test facility in San Remo Victoria Australia for the last ten years and has a testing berth at EMEC (The European Energy Centre) in the Orkney islands since 2010.
The company is also providing the turbine and onshore systems for China's largest tidal current demonstration project as part of a programme funded by China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) and also has sites in India and Canada.
Making a splash with tidal power
Sea water is 832 times denser than air which means tidal turbines can have smaller rotors than an onshore wind equivalent. The weather is not a factor and they are of course also less visually polluting.
The firm has already identified 25 gigawatts (GW) of potential tidal stream resource while other estimates are even higher and political and regulatory support for renewable energy sources is strong.
MeyGen making progress and on track
The MeyGen site is 85% owned by Atlantis and will ultimately deliver a renewable energy plant of almost 400 megawatts (MW) powered by the tide. Financing of 53.1mln to fully fund Phase 1A - the first 6MW - has been completed and first power is expected to be generated this summer.
This phase sees four 1.5MW turbines installed offshore and onshore infrastructure built.
Last September 11km of submarine cable was successfully laid. Meanwhile on land Andritz is rapidly assembling three 1.5MW turbines in Ravensberg Germany while Atlantis has kicked off building a singleLockheed Martinturbine in Scotland.
Also on terra firma Scottish Hydro Electric Power has finished a 17km onshore cable installation and Atlantis revealed in a newsletter last month that "excellent progress" had been made in building the 'power conversion utility building at the onshore part of the project'.
At full pelt MeyGen will be able to power 175000 homes.
Looking to super-size MeyGen down the line
Last December's purchase of the 100MW Ness of Duncansby site just east of its flagship MeyGen project means the firm will look in time to increase MeyGen's output to 500MW.
It came as the group also bought the 10MW Sound of Islay project in Western Scotland from ScottishPower Renewables for 6.6mln.
Tim Cornelius the chief executive highlighted Islay was "shovel ready" and was one of the most advanced sites in the UK if not Europe. Construction at this site is also primed to begin in 2016.
Enhancing leadership
House brokerPeel Huntsaid the acquisition of the two sites took Atlantis's total Scottish portfolio to almost 650MW - enhancing the group's leadership in the sector.
Adding in these two acquisitions puts a value on Atlantis's tidal subsidiary at 103mln which is more than the broker's 70mln estimate and a massive jump from the group's current market cap of 45mln.
The broker targets 130p for the Atlantis shares - up from 120p - and still more than three times the current share price of 43p.
It estimates full year 2016 sales to be 8.9mln rising to 33mln the following year.
--updates for Equitix deal--
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