Atlantis Resources will shortly be removing three of the four wave and tidal turbines that are currently in operation at the Pentland Firth location of the MeyGen wave and tidal development. 

The three turbines are Andritz Hammerfest Hydro (AHH) models with 1.5MW of capacity each. They will need to be taken to shore for full analysis, testing and system enhancements.

The turbines and their hardware will then be resettled back into the development when the next tidal window becomes available.

The machines were originally installed in the test project between November last year and January. Project Director Rudolf Bauernhofer said that the development team had learned much from the initial phase of operation and had been very pleased with the energy production of the installed turbines and their ability to operate autonomously. He explained that both measures were operating well above the guaranteed value.

Atlantis has confirmed that the first phase of its 1S tidal project at the MeyGen site has generated nearly 400MWh of clean energy. This means that the project is on course to deliver capacity factors that will markedly exceed the 40pc baseline.

The fourth turbine - designed by Lockheed Martin - is already producing 4pc more green energy than the contractual baseline for guaranteed payments.

Drew Blaxland, the director of engineering services and turbines at Atlantis, said that the project team were delighted with the performance so far of the AR1500 fourth turbine and anticipated that further benefits would be realised and shared as more data was gathered.

Wave and tidal energy offers great potential to the UK because of its long coastline. The MeyGen project is testing the commercial viability of the technology, which involves harnessing the power of the sea to create clean and green renewable energy.