Engineering news
Engineering giant ABB has made a multi-million pound investment in an Edinburgh-based wave energy developer that is on the verge of commercialising its technology.
The £8 million investment in Aquamarine Power, supported by £3 million from existing shareholders, means the company has the cash in place to move forward with the development of its Oyster wave device.
Martin McAdam, chief executive of Aquamarine, said: “This is a game-changing moment for our company and for the UK’s marine energy industry.
“ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies and they have taken a strategic decision to invest in Oyster technology. Through working together ABB will gain an early-mover advantage in our wave energy technology, whilst we will be able to access ABB’s technical, research and engineering expertise and utilise their global supply chain network.”
Although the two companies are very different in size, McAdam said they had similar ambitions. “This is a strategic partnership with the shared goal of accelerating the commercialisation and deployment of Oyster wave energy technology around the world,” he said.
Earlier this year, Aquamarine Power was awarded exclusive rights to develop a 200MW Oyster farm off the coast of Orkney in partnership with SSE Renewables as part of the world’s first commercial leasing programme for wave and tidal energy generation projects.
The Oyster wave energy device has been designed to capture energy found in nearshore waves and convert it into sustainable electricity. The device is a buoyant, hinged flap which is attached to the seabed at around 10 metres depth, around half a kilometre from shore. This hinged flap, which is almost entirely underwater, sways backwards and forwards in the nearshore waves. The movement of the flap drives two hydraulic pistons which push high-pressure water onshore to drive a conventional hydro-electric turbine.
In essence, the Oyster wave power device is simply a large pump which provides the power source for a conventional onshore hydro-electric power plant. Once commercialised, multiple Oyster wave power devices will be deployed in farms typically of 100MW or more, said the company.