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The world’s largest operational tidal energy array has continued to set records for the longest period of uninterrupted generation.

MeyGen, which consists of four 300-tonne turbines in the Pentland Firth between Orkney and Scotland, produced more than 13.8GWh of electricity last year, enough to power 3,800 homes. The electricity generated £3.9 million of revenue.

Last year’s output means total electricity production has hit 24.7GWh since it was connected to the grid in November 2016. Since then, the project has brought in £7.1 million of revenue.

One of the project’s turbines is due to be removed from the water for maintenance this week and is expected to be redeployed in the spring. The upgrade will boost its efficiency by 4% with no increase in operating costs.

Last September, plans were unveiled to build a data centre in Caithness, which would use the power generated by the tidal array and an onshore wind farm. The company revealed today that work is also underway to connect the project to the Celtic Norse subsea fibre optic cable, which is currently in development.

Tim Cornelius, chief executive at SIMEC Atlantis, which developed and operates MeyGen, said: “Not only is this world-renowned project helping the UK meet its net zero ambitions, but it is also providing valuable performance data, which can be used to inform future projects, demonstrating MeyGen's importance as a global prototype.

“MeyGen holds a 398MW seabed lease and our data centre expansion project is world leading for a number of reasons. The cost of tidal power continues to reduce, and this is being assisted by the sustained pressure the offshore wind marketplaces on the supply chain domestically and abroad.

“The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil but data, and by combining tidal power with stranded onshore wind farms in close proximity to MeyGen, we can create a virtual power plant to provide sustainable power to a data centre in Scotland, creating important new fibre connections for Scotland and the UK in the process.”