UK-based developer of CCell wave energy converter Zyba has participated in an entrepreneur mission to San Francisco to explore potential investment opportunities.
The Clean + Cool mission, organized in cooperation with Innnovate UK and Long Run Works, supports early-stage companies in exploring cross-border opportunities and identifying faster market routes for their products.
Zyba showcased its CCell oscillating wave surge converter (OWSC), designed to maximize the energy extracted from ocean waves through curvature of the paddle.
Will Bateman , Founder and CEO of Zyba, said: “We’re in discussions at the moment with 14 different islands and coastal locations, and here in San Francisco we’re looking to find partners and funders who could help with the roll-out of the four pilot studies to four of these locations.”
Laboratory tests of the curved CCell paddle and its control system have demonstrated a four-fold increase in performance-to-cost ratio compared to other flap-based wave energy converters, according to Wave Energy Scotland (WES) which backed the technology with £250,000 back in November 2015.
The curved structure of CCell not only improves the hydrodynamic performance, extracting more energy from each wave, but it also provides additional strength that reduces the amount of material needed to construction the paddle, according to WES.
Potential application for the technology include sea-water desalination plants and remote inhabited islands dependent on diesel generated electricity.
Ian Meikle , Director – Infrastructure Systems at Innovate UK, said: “Clean + Cool is a great example of the role Innovate UK plays in connecting innovators with the right partners they need to succeed. The mission tackles the human challenges to innovation, helping early stage CEOs grow their ambition, profile and network, while improving their pitch and insight.”
Zyba, along with other 19 companies, was selected to take part in the mission by a panel of judges made up of representatives from Clean + Cool, Innovate UK, Department for International Trade, and Knowledge Transfer Network, among others.