Scotland’s quest to harness wave power has been relaunched with the opening of an international technology innovation competition.
Part of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and funded by the Scottish Government, Wave Energy Scotland is inviting applications from developers who need investment to advance their technology.
Successful applicants will be eligible for contracts that cover up to 100% of the cost of their projects through testing towards commercialisation. Contracts will range from between £100,000 and £4 million.
WES was set up by the Scottish Government after the collapse of wave power company Pelamis, which failed to secure enough funding to develop its technology.
The Government pledged to offer jobs to redundant Pelamis workers at WES.
The WES project for innovative power take-off (PTO) systems is supported by the Carbon Trust, the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and also Edinburgh University.
The objective is to put wave energy technology developed in Scotland on the path towards a reliable commercial product that generates electricity at no more than £150/MWh.
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: “This project call is the first opportunity for innovative technology developers to get involved in Wave Energy Scotland and drive the direction of the wave energy sector.
“We recognise the wide range of expertise that exists beyond the energy sector.
“Wave Energy Scotland is a great platform for a collaborative effort between various industries, and gives us the chance to support developers in Scotland to produce solutions for the cost effective generation of wave energy around the world.”
Tim Hurst, interim director of Wave Energy Scotland, said: “We will take a fresh approach to resolving the issues which so often hamper the early stages of developing innovative technology.
“WES offers a great opportunity to draw on the expertise which exists in industry and academia across the country.
“We encourage anyone with a best-in- class solution for PTO systems to submit their ideas.”
Recent assessments of the wave-energy market estimate that, by 2050, projects totalling a capacity of up to 130GW globally could be installed, with much of the development potential in well-supported markets.
* Yesterday Aquamarine Power published operational information gathered during months of testing its Oyster 800 wave machine at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
The academic analysis verified that the Oyster flap generates power as predicted in wave tank and numerical tests.
Aquamarine Power chief executive John Malcolm said the results were exceptional.
He added: “Our business plan is to continue to develop the next-generation Oyster at laboratory scale and focus on areas of the technology which are less reliable, in particular the power take-off system.”