Atlantis Resources said yesterday it had agreed to sell a 2% stake in its five tidal power projects to a Belgian offshore construction firm for £2million.
As part of the deal, DEME will play a part in developing Atlantis’s Scottish portfolio, which is valued at £100million.
Atlantis – which is behind MeyGen, one of the largest tidal arrays projects under construction in the world – said it expects the sale to go through in the coming weeks.
The Edinburgh-based company appears to be succeeding where other marine renewables businesses have tended to struggle – in raising enough money to fund its projects. Last week, infrastructure investor Equitix agreed to stump up at least a fifth of the £500million Atlantis plans to spend on its Scottish projects over the next two years. In return, Equitix will get a 25% stake in Atlantis’s Scottish portfolio at financial close.
Atlantis enlarged that portfolio to include five schemes in December, when it agreed to buy the Sound of Islay and Ness of Duncansby projects from ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) for £6.6million.
It addition to the cash, the agreement gave SPR a 6% stake in the subsidiary of Atlantis that manages the portfolio, Tidal Power Scotland Ltd (TPSL).
Atlantis said yesterday its deal with DEME gives the Belgian firm the right to contribute equity funding to the Sound of Islay project.
Tim Cornelius, chief executive of Atlantis, said: “We are excited to welcome DEME as a strategic investor into the TPSL portfolio. As a respected global leader in offshore renewable energy installation, DEME brings a wealth of expertise and we are particularly excited to work closely with them to help deliver our Scottish project pipeline.”
DEME, which is headquartered in Zwijndrecht near Antwerp, has a fleet of more than 90 construction vessels and 35 years’ worth of work on offshore construction projects under its belt.
DEME group chief executive Alain Bernard said: “This transaction is a vital move for the DEME group in fulfilling its ambitions to be at the forefront of the growing tidal energy industry. Moreover, it consolidates the company’s presence in the UK as DEME’s involvement in the UK offshore business dates back to the early years of offshore wind.
“We look forward to working alongside Atlantis and SPR as shareholders in TPSL to develop and construct this unrivalled portfolio of projects.”
The projects included in the portfolio are MeyGen, Sound of Islay, Ness of Duncansby, Brough Ness and Mull of Galloway. MeyGen is the biggest of those schemes. It will have a 398-megawatt (MW) capacity when all 269 turbines are installed in the Pentland Firth.
, a stretch of water between Caithness and Orkney.
