Demonstrating the power of investments

Our investors are changing the world for the better with every investment, backing the companies and people that are working hard to make a big difference — the rolling programme of Atlantis offers on Abundance is a perfect example: with our customers support, Atlantis, a business with big ambitions, has been striding towards its goals.

Abundance customers have already invested £9,920,000 across 2 existing offers over the last 2 years. The third offer, open now, will take the total past £16,000,000. Every pound of new investment will add to the £5 million in cash the company has and which it is using to advance its diverse pipeline of projects (read more here).

Getting its current pipeline developed will mark the beginning of a whole new chapter for Atlantis, above and beyond what it has already achieved — much of which has been made possible by you.

By building and owning more projects Atlantis diversifies the ways it creates value. It gains new expertise, and expands into sustainable energy projects that do not require government subsidy (more of which below). All of this builds a more resilient company, one which is opening up for global business. Read on for a detailed update on what our investors have helped Atlantis to achieve.

Creating a stronger tidal power company

Atlantis Resources, now SIMEC Atlantis Energy, first came to our investors as a purely tidal company in 2017. The developer and part-owner of the flagship MeyGen tidal array, the largest planned tidal stream project in the world, Atlantis wanted to raise funds to help bring tidal power to its next stage of maturity. Our investors responded enthusiastically, and the Atlantis Ocean Energy offer can claim to have accelerated Atlantis’ success in the time since.

MeyGen, for example, has gone from strength to strength. Atlantis announced in August 2017 that MeyGen had exported 1 GWh of tidal energy to the grid. Since then it has gone on to export over 21 GWh — more than 7 GWh of which was generated in the first 6 months of 2019, and which comes following reinstallation of the turbines after improvements in late 2018. To put that into context, 1 GWh is enough electricity to power 1 million of the UK’s c. 25 million homes for an hour.

MeyGen is important to bolstering the chances of establishing a long term, global and successful tidal industry. The financial support from our investors helped to buy Atlantis the time and experience to navigate the first years of operation of the first phase.

Atlantis has drawn invaluable lessons from the construction, installation, operation, and maintenance of the first phase of MeyGen, which is now being fed into subsequent phases. The improvements in the operation and generation of MeyGen Phase 1A have increased its value, particularly as it is now generating a steady income from the sale of electricity. This increase in value means that Atlantis’ equity stake in the project is also worth more.

In a new development, this month Atlantis announced plans for a data centre in Caithness, to be powered by tidal energy via a private wire from MeyGen Phase 1C. This removes the need to rely on subsidy of any sort, a highly significant step on the path to make tidal energy commercially competitive in the way offshore wind has increasingly progressed. The work that went into Phase 1A laid the all-important groundwork for developments like this, meaning our investors can claim their small part in the story of tidal power progress.

Building a diversified sustainable energy developer

In the background of this activity Atlantis attracted significant attention and respect for its expertise, which contributed to the development of a second offer on Abundance, this time to support the company as it partnered with global energy and infrastructure business SIMEC.

Atlantis Future Energy 2018 was funded with the intention of helping the company to develop more projects in its pipeline which, for the first time, were not exclusively tidal. With progress on tidal around the world heavily reliant on government policy and politics, it was good business sense for Atlantis to leverage its development, project management and engineering expertise in other ways, building at the same time a more diversified sustainable energy business, with more options to build value and resilience.

As part of the SIMEC partnership Atlantis acquired the former coal-fired power plant Uskmouth in Wales. Their first job is to convert 220 MW of the plant’s capacity to run on sustainable energy pellets made from a mixture of organic waste and non-recyclable plastic. Just like MeyGen this is a first-of-its-kind project which could kick-start a global industry, and our investors have helped fund the vital first steps.

A string of positive developments has occurred since Atlantis Future Energy 2018 was fully funded last April, which include:

• Completion of Front End Engineering Design tests and studies, which have proved the stable combustion of the 100% waste derived fuel pellets. The next step is to test their production and combustion at scale.
• Issuing a contract tender for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of the full system, including large scale testing. This is expected to be awarded before next year.
• Successfully reaching a design freeze for Environmental Impact Assessments, which is a critical milestone in the planning process. This allows submission for planning permission and permitting applications before the end of the year.

With the vision, drive, and technical know-how demonstrated and learned at MeyGen, Atlantis is starting from a solid foundation. Uskmouth will be subsidy-free and generate £60 million a year in revenues for Atlantis, allowing it to do even more in the future. In order to get there Atlantis needs to get the conversion completed, which our investors can help it do with the Atlantis Future Energy 2019 offer.

This latest offer will largely fund the next steps outlined above at Uskmouth, but will also continue to be used for developing the growing tidal opportunities its expertise has earned — more detail on which you can find here.

As we race to replace the energy technology of the industrial revolution with energy capacity fit for a Net Zero future it is companies like Atlantis whose contribution will be invaluable. The hunger Atlantis has to make a real change matches yours, and thanks to you it has proven that it can make that change possible.

Risk warning

As with any investment product there are risks. Part or all of your original invested capital may be at risk and any return on your investment depends on the success of the project invested in. You should be prepared to hold Abundance investments for their full term and investments may not be readily realisable. Estimated rates of return can be variable and estimates are no guarantee of actual return. Specific risks will apply in relation to each product. Consider all risks before investing and read the Offer Document for each investment.