Embley Energy has secured funding from a combination of investment and grants for its wave energy convertor SPERBOY development.
The company has raised £3.5 million so far from a combination of investment and grants awarded from the European Union, DTI, Carbon Trust and nPower Juice Fund.
John Blight , one of the company’s co-directors, said: “So far, we have had an 80% success rate with grant fund applications which has been a significant contribution alongside our current ‘family and friend’ investment to date.”
For the next round of development, Phase 2, a total of £1.5 million in investment is being secured to finalize a full specification, detailed design, further wave tank trials and feasibility studies for a commercial prototype of SPERBOY that will be constructed and deployed in the next phase.
Michael Burrett , also a co-director of the company added: “We will offer equity up to a total sum of £2m with the minimum requirement being set at £1.5m to achieve this next phase in SPERBOY development.”
Following this, further investment will need to be secured to build a commercial prototype that will be deployed and studied, resulting in a report to verify SPERBOY’s technical and cost of energy claims for commercialization, the company noted.
The physical building of the prototype is Phase 3 of the Embley Energy business plan. Total funding required to take the concept to commercialization is in the order of £8.5 million, through phases 2, 3 and 4.
Currently, SPERBOY’s concept is proven through the R&D stage. Investigations into its commercial potential have also been completed through a pilot unit deployment and a series of wave tank trials and financial modelling, Embley Energy said.
John Blight added: “ Its potential is vast and as a business opportunity in energy generation, extremely generous with current cost projections between £0.0291 and £0.0565 per kWhr (roughly 3 pence per KWhr), outperforming wind and nuclear energy.”
Once the device is proven to be commercially viable, the company will license the technology to construct and operate, with revenue based on a royalty fee against energy generation.