Atlantis Resources has agreed to acquire two projects from ScottishPower Renewables for its Scottish tidal development company, Tidal Power Scotland.
The value of the deal is £6.6 million (US$9.8 million), to be paid by 3,9 million shares in Tidal Power Scotland, which equates to 6% of the issued share capital. Atlantis owns the remaining 94% of TPSL. The deal is expected to close in early 2016.
As part of the transaction, Tidal Power Scotland will acquire ScottishPower Renewables’ entire tidal power portfolio, comprising the 10 megawatt Sound of Islay site in western Scotland and the 100-MW Ness of Duncansby site, immediately to the east of Atlantis’s flagship 398-MW MeyGen project in north-eastern Scotland. Tidal Power Scotland already owns 85% of the MeyGen project company, with the remainder held by Scottish Enterprise.
The project assets include agreements for lease with the government for both sites, and the Sound of Islay site also has a grid connection offer and construction consents from the Scottish ministers. The Sound of Islay project has been awarded €20.7 million of grant funding from the European Commission’s NER300 fund by way of capital and revenue support.
Following completion of the acquisition of Marine Current Turbines Limited from Siemens AG in an all share deal earlier this year, the Atlantis group has agreements for lease for two further Scottish tidal sites, at the Mull of Galloway in south-west Scotland and Brough Ness, to the north of the MeyGen and Ness of Duncansby sites in the Pentland Firth. Atlantis is in the process of adding these two projects, with a combined capacity of 130MW, to the Tidal Power Scotland portfolio.
Construction will commence on the Sound of Islay project in 2016, alongside the second phase of the MeyGen project, which has also been awarded NER300 funding of €16.8 million. The first 6MW phase of the MeyGen project remains on target to deliver power to the grid in 2016.
“By 2022, we aim to have almost 650MW of installed tidal power in Scotland alone, generating clean and predictable energy to meet Scotland’s green energy ambitions, and establishing a new export industry for the future which builds on the existing supply chain and expertise of decades of offshore experience,” said Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis.