WATERS awards in the amount of GBP 3.7 mln will be divided between three companies to support the total tidal and wave project costs of GBP 7 mln.
Albatern, Nova Innovation and Sustainable Marine Energy will receive the fundings from the third round of WATERS scheme – a collaborative venture between Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Government, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Albatern has been awarded GBP 1.8 mln for the building and demonstration of a larger Squid device , with the total project costs amounting to GBP 3.5 mln.
David Campbell , Chief Financial Officer at Albatern, commented: “ This new project builds on the learning from the current wave energy units that we have deployed in Scottish waters. It seeks to develop a scalable product range to enable wave energy projects for larger island populations across the globe with bigger waves and increased power requirements.”
Nova Innovation will receive GBP 573.000, with the total project cost of GBP 998.000. The funding will be used for direct drive tidal turbine development and demonstration. Nova Innovation states the direct drive generator will increase the efficiency and reliability of tidal turbines, while at the same time reducing the cost of energy by 20 percent.
Simon Forrest , Managing Director of Nova Innovation, said: “This product was originally developed with the help of a Scottish Enterprise SMART award, and has benefited from a Scottish Enterprise funded Knowledge Exchange partnership with the University of Edinburgh. This as an excellent example of public funding in Scotland supporting Scottish companies to bring innovative ideas from the drawing board to the market.”
Sustainable Marine Energy bagged GBP 1.3 mln towards a total cost of GBP 2.5 mln for an array demonstrator project. The funding will be used to establish operational and production hub in Scotland, in order to further advance its PLAT-O tidal energy technology.
Jason Hayman , Managing Director at Sustainable Marine Energy, said: “The array demonstration project is a major step towards proving the commercial viability of PLAT-O. The support enables us to set up operations and production in Scotland that will be utilised to produce PLAT-Os systems to build array capacity and roll out our technology nationwide.”
Welcoming the announcement, Scotland’s Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing said: “The Scottish Government and its enterprise agencies are working hard to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the low-carbon economy.
“I am determined that we make the most of the clean, secure and abundant energy stored in the waters around our coasts and these three companies are developing pioneering technologies to help us do that.”
Maggie McGinlay, Director of Energy and Clean Technologies at Scottish Enterprise added that the latest round of WATERS funding would help create more opportunities and support the growth of the sector.
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Image: Nova Innovation