The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has welcomed Spanish tidal energy developer Magallanes Renovables to its tidal test site at the Fall of Warness in Orkney, Scotland.

The successful installation of the firm’s second-gen 2MW tidal platform, ATIR, took place in February and marks a major milestone in the Ocean_2G project, which aims to test, validate and pre-certify Magallanes’ device.
The ATIR was built and launched in Spain in 2017, where it underwent a structured test programme to optimise the system, ensuring the device performs at its best.
After this successful period of testing, the ATIR was towed from Spain to Orkney in September 2018.

After months of careful planning and close working between the project partners, Orkney-based marine service provider Leask Marine was able to successfully execute the operation in February.

The ATIR will now undergo commissioning on site prior to being connected to the national grid.

Alejandro Marques de Magallanes, CEO, Magallanes Renovables, explained: “The journey to Orkney was no mean feat, but the team managed to skilfully navigate their way in harsh weather conditions, through some of Europe’s most challenging seas.

“We are very pleased to have the ATIR installed at EMEC. This marks a major milestone for the project and is a great achievement for our dedicated team after years of building up to this point.”

Marques de Magallanes also reveals that, “The next step in the project will be to start the testing programme at the Fall of Warness. We look forward to demonstrating the outputs of this pioneering prototype and generating electricity into the national grid in the near future.”