Subsea engineering specialists ETA is to supply a tidal turbine connection system for Simec Atlantis’ Project Stroma in the Pentland Firth off northern Scotland.
The subsea hub will allow multiple turbines to be connected to a single power export cable, which Atlantis said will significantly reduce the costs associated with grid connection.
Project Stroma will connect two Atlantis AR2000 turbines to the developer’s operational 6MW MeyGen Phase 1 via the new subsea hub to a single power export cable to an onshore substation.
The length of power export cable and volume onshore conversion equipment required for grid connection will be significantly reduced, added Atlantis, as will the amount of horizontal directional drilling required and the amount of vessel time required for cable installation.
Atlantis director of turbine and engineering services Drew Blaxland said Project Stroma will deliver an approximate 50% reduction in turbine grid connection costs compared to the four-unit MeyGen Phase 1.
“This subsea hub has direct application to the growing floating offshore wind market globally, an adaption of our hub will be able to connect multiple floating offshore wind turbines in deep water,” he added.
The company meanwhile is exploring a number of funding options for the capital expenditure associated with Project Stroma, including a potential issue of its first listed bond.
“We are currently in discussion with several regulated exchanges about the issuance of a debt instrument to fund Project Stroma which will in turn allow us to progress our plans to secure CfD allocations for future phases of the MeyGen project,” said chief executive Tim Cornelius.