The iconic red 'sea-snake' wave energy converter has gained international recognition since Dr Yemm founded Pelamis Wave Power in Edinburgh in 1998. First Minister Alex Salmond presented Dr Yemm, now Commercial Director of Pelamis, with the second annual Saltire Prize Medal at the Scottish Renewables annual conference dinner in Edinburgh.
The annual award – presented under the auspices of Scotland's £10 million Saltire Prize marine energy challenge – aims to recognise outstanding contributions by individuals and groups to the development of wave and/or tidal power generation.
The First Minister said: "I am delighted to present Richard Yemm with the Saltire Prize Medal, an accolade which he richly deserves for his tireless commitment to the development of wave energy generation. Since forming the initial concept of the Pelamis wave energy converter and establishing the company in 1998, Richard has driven forward the technical and commercial development of Pelamis Wave Power, which now boasts major international utilities E.ON, ScottishPower and Vattenfall among its customers.
Accepting the Medal, Dr Yemm commented: "It is a huge honour to be presented with this prestigious award, which I am delighted to accept on behalf of all who have worked tirelessly alongside me over the years to deliver on this once in a generation opportunity for Scottish engineering and industry. This is an individual award, but wherever you take the time to look across this exciting new sector you can see exceptional individuals working together as one team to deliver on the 'win-win' of clean energy and economic development opportunity that marine energy represents.
"Our sector has a unique cohesiveness forged by experience that working together gives us – and an output much greater than the sum of the parts. Those 'parts' range from the inspirational team at Pelamis, across other equally committed technology developers and our own industry association in Scottish Renewables, through our utility customers and partners (who have been) willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved early. The other key 'parts' have been a parliament and administration that has been consistently prepared to stick its neck out to deliver the full suite of policy, regulatory and funding initiatives, including of course the Saltire Prize, that will underpin this Scottish success story."
Niall Stuart, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "Richard Yemm will undoubtedly be looked upon as one of the most influential people to the development of Scotland's marine industry; from the drawing board to grid connected devices and making important steps to commercial scale projects. While studying for a PhD at the University of Edinburgh under the former Saltire Prize medallist, Prof Stephen Salter, he got the first idea of the Pelamis wave energy converter and established Pelamis Wave Power in 1998.”
Dr Yemm's career in renewables began in the wind sector, with a novel design of wind turbine blade dampers that enabled extended manufacturing of blades in Glenrothes by overcoming an industry-wide vibration problem. While studying for a PhD at the University of Edinburgh under Professor Stephen Salter – the recipient, last year, of the inaugural Saltire Prize Medal – Dr Yemm formed the first ideas of the Pelamis wave energy converter and in 1998 established Ocean Power Delivery (later changed to Pelamis Wave Power) to develop the technology.
Under his leadership, Pelamis achieved the first grid electricity from offshore waves, Scotland's first export order for wave energy technology, and the UK's only sales for wave energy converters to utilities E.ON and ScottishPower Renewables. Among his other roles, Dr Yemm has previously served as Chair of Scottish Renewables and on the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS). In December 2011, he was presented with the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry at the Scottish Green Energy Awards.
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Did you know that Romania has a technical solution with the highest efficiency to capture wave power?. Patent 108893 entitled Dynamic Engine for Sea Wave Energy Catching. A pioneering invention. It is estimated that “dynamic engine” has the ability to catching wave energy at a rate of over 80% while the other technical solutions known worldwide, are not able to capture wave energy with a higher percentage of about 10-15%. Cosma Vasile. Romania. E-mail cosma.vasile@yahoo.com
