Belgian wave energy company Laminaria has raised €2 million to support the development and full-scale demonstration of its wave energy generation technology at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland.
The funding was secured from new investors, QBIC II, which is a seed and early-stage investor in young companies, and PMV NV, a Flemish investment company, along with the contribution from an existing investor Clean Energy Innovative Projects (CEIP).
Laminaria is leading the Oceanera-Net supported LAMWEC project, with the aim of upscaling the technology to 200kW, prove its survivability in extreme storm conditions, and ready it for deployment at EMEC in 2018.
Steven Nauwelaerts , CEO of Laminaria, said: “After delivering proof of concept with the North Sea test campaign in 2015, demonstrating a grid connected device in the turbulent Scottish waters is the next very exciting step for Laminaria. The testing and development campaigns to date have given confidence to QBIC II, PMV and CEIP to invest in Laminaria’s future and support the next stage of the technologies progress.”
Roald Borré , Head of PMV’s Equity Investment team, added: “Laminaria has the potential to be a game-changer in the ocean energy field. The company has a clear technology development and product roadmap to become a provider of renewable energy products and services at a competitive cost in the long term.”
The company has also been supported via the MaRINET2 call, allowing access to Plymouth University’s tank test facilities to optimize device’s control system, and via the Interreg NWE funded FORESEA program, partly supporting the full-scale test program at EMEC.
Laminaria’s wave energy device falls under the attenuator type of wave energy converters, and is constituted from vertical surface that interacts with the incoming horizontal wave energy.
As a result of the horizontal movement in the water, Laminaria’s device is subjected to tilting and translational motion, which is transferred through the mooring ropes to the generators which produce electricity.