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Atlantis informed that the European Commission’s Climate Change Committee has approved the transfer of €17 million of funding from the Kyle Rhea project to Atlantis’s MeyGen project.

The funding is for MeyGen Phase 1B (Project Stroma) and will accelerate the development of the MeyGen project, with this second phase targeted to reach financial close and start construction during 2016.

The €17 million funding was originally awarded to the Kyle Rhea project, a tidal stream array project between the Isle of Skye and the west coast of Scotland, being developed by the Marine Current Turbines group (MCT). MCT was acquired by Atlantis from Siemens AG in an all share deal in July 2015.

Following completion of the MCT acquisition, Atlantis applied to the European Commission, with the assistance of the member state, Scotland, to have this funding transferred from the Kyle Rhea project to Project Stroma, which enables the funding to be retained for the benefit of a more advanced Scottish tidal energy project, the company said.

The first tranche of €10 million will be made available on April 01, 2016. The maximum funding available is €16,777,548. The funding comes from the NER 300 programme which supports innovative renewable energy technologies.

Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis, commented:

“Construction of MeyGen Phase 1A continues apace with first generation scheduled for next year. The Phase 1B funding announced today will accelerate the rate of development at the MeyGen site and we expect to commence construction of Project Stroma before the end of 2016. These developments further underline the benefits of the MCT acquisition.

“The EC’s continued support for tidal power via the MeyGen and the Sound of Islay projects underlines Scotland’s position as the world’s leading tidal power region and reflects the strong support the industry has received from the Scottish government.”