Aquamarine to take the plunge after funds boost

A FLEDGLING wave energy company is set to launch its first prototype design this summer after securing "significant" private and public funding.

If its hydro-wave converter proves successful, Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power hopes to be supplying several hundred megawatts (Mw) of electricity to the national grid within the next ten years.

The company's "Oyster" system is based on a wave-powered pump, which delivers high pressure sea water to an onshore hydro-electric power plant.

The offshore unit can continue generating power in the toughest sea conditions. Its workings have been likened to a giant foot pump.

Aquamarine was founded in 2005 by chairman Allan Thomson - a 20-year veteran of the offshore and wave energy sectors. He is one of two private investors backing the venture, the other being non-executive director Frederik W Mowinckel, chairman of the Norwegian investment company Bergensis Capital.

Although Aquamarine is not disclosing the value of their investment, it is "significantly" greater than a 275,000 grant provided by the Scottish Executive.

Business development manager Sin McGrath said the firm had been valued at about 10 million.

"After our first full-scale demonstrator is deployed in the summer and we meet our ongoing milestones, we anticipate that the value of the company will increase significantly," she said.

The energy converter will be deployed at Orkney's European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). In March, The Scotsman reported on a rival tidal power system, developed by Scottish renewables company Lunar Energy, which is also due to undergo sea trials at the centre this year.

McGrath said Aquamarine's technology was "very different" to other wave and tidal energy schemes. The lightweight Oyster pump has a very small seabed footprint and a high power output relative to its size, making it highly cost effective.

It is being built by Isleburn MacKay & McLeod at Nigg in Ross-shire, while the hydro-electric plant is being manufactured by Newcastle-based NaREC.

Aquamarine hopes to launch a demonstration array, consisting of ten pumps generating up to 4MW - enough to power a small town - at the EMEC in 2008.

According to recent research, the global market for wave power technology could be worth as much as 500 billion in the first half of the 21st century.

David Collier, chief executive of Aquamarine, said: "With conventional power costs increasing as well as growing concerns about energy security and climate change, demand for marine energy is growing."