£10m Scottish Government prize up for grabs for one of four firms that tames the waves

By JULIAR HORTON
Published on 29/08/2012 00:00

FOUR tidal and wave power

developers are competing for a £10 million Scottish award to crack one of the world’s toughest technological challenges, it was announced yesterday.

• MeyGen, Aquamarine Power, Pelamis Wave Power and ScottishPower renewables will battle it out for the £10 million prize

• The prize will be awarded to the team that achieves the great volume of sea-powered electrical output in Scottish waters over a two-year period

The rival firms – MeyGen, Aquamarine Power, Pelamis Wave Power and ScottishPower Renewables – were revealed as the official competitors for the Scottish Government’s Saltire Prize for marine energy developments. Their task has been dubbed the “Grand Challenge” – to produce clean power from the oceans.

The winner will be the firm which generates the greatest volume of electrical output in Scottish waters during a continuous two-year period using only the power of the sea.

Three of the four projects will be in the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters, with MeyGen’s tidal energy project in the Inner Sound, Pelamis’ wave power device at Farr Point and ScottishPower Renewables’ development at Ness of Duncansby.

Aquamarine’s prize project will be located off the Isle of Lewis where the company will position a wave energy converter known as Oyster.

Announcing the contestants in Orkney, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the clean energy challenge had helped draw international attention to the “planet-saving potential of wave and tidal power”.

She added: “The Saltire Prize sets a considerable challenge to competitors – reflecting the huge potential of harnessing marine energy.

“The four competitors have stepped up to the challenge, and in so doing can drive each other still further and faster forward, towards the goal of large-scale commercial electricity generation from the power of the world’s seas and oceans.”

Terry Garcia, executive vice-president of the National Geographic Society and Saltire Prize Challenge Committee chairman, added: “I’ve no doubt that the international interest in wave and tidal energy will only intensify as the Saltire Prize competitors strive to be first to succeed in meeting the Grand Challenge.”

ScottishPower Renewables is working on its tidal turbine prize project with Andritz Hydro Hammerfest, which recently installed a test device that it said was performing well.

Alan Mortimer, head of innovation at ScottishPower Renewables, said: “These projects are hugely important to help us better understand all of the challenges involved in deploying devices and generating electricity from the sea around Scotland.”

Meanwhile, a Saltire Prize children’s photography competition has also been announced by the Scottish Government.