The news follows a recent announcement of £11 million new investment in Aquamarine Power by multi-national power company ABB and existing shareholders including SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy).
The £4 million (€4.7 million) contract will see the first next-generation Oyster device – known as Oyster 2 – fabricated over the next six months at BiFab’s manufacturing plant at Methil on the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Installation of the device will then begin at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) near Stromness in Orkney in summer 2011.
The project is also being supported through grant funding awarded by Scottish Enterprise and the Carbon Trust Marine Renewables Proving Fund.
“This contract demonstrates the jobs dividend that a thriving marine energy industry can create,” said Martin McAdam, Chief Executive Officer of Aquamarine Power. “Strong support from both Scottish and UK governments has enabled our company to leverage significant private sector investment, and this is resulting in major manufacturing contracts in Scotland and across the UK.
In selecting BiFab to manufacture its next-generation Oyster device, Aquamarine Power has chosen a world-class fabrication contractor with over 20 years experience in the offshore oil and gas industry. Indeed, in recent years BiFab has applied its extensive offshore experience to the emerging renewable energy sector. “It’s this diversification and BiFab’s reputation for innovation in its field which has allowed the company to emerge as one of Scotland’s leading fabricators,” highlighted McAdam.
“We are delighted to be selected by Aquamarine Power for the manufacture of the Oyster 2. We are very impressed with the proactive approach of their management and engineering teams. This is a very exciting product with great potential and we are pleased that the new design will be manufactured by BiFab here in Scotland,” added John Robertson, BiFab’s Managing Director.
Aquamarine Power’s Oyster 2 demonstration project will consist of three flaps, each measuring 26 metres wide. Although it is only 50 percent wider it will deliver 250 percent more power than the original Oyster 1 which was successfully deployed at EMEC last summer.
The three devices will be linked to a single onshore 2.4 MW hydro-electric power station. The new devices incorporate a number of design improvements, which means they will produce more energy, be simpler to install and easier to maintain. According to Aquamarine Power, a small farm of 20 Oyster devices would provide enough energy for more than 12,000 homes.
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