The Technology Strategy Board funding follows the support given earlier this month to AWS Ocean Energy by the Scottish Government’s WATERS programme (Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support). Both funding streams will be used by AWS Ocean Energy to further develop its AWS-III device, a ring-shaped multi-cell surface-floating wave power system, the result of almost two years of intensive research and development work.
A single utility-scale AWS-III, measuring around 60 metres in diameter, will be capable of generating up to 2.5 Megawatts (MW) of continuous power.
The company is seeking industrial and utility partners to enable the launching of a 12-cell, 2.5MW pre-commercial demonstrator in 2012 and subsequent commercialisation of the technology. Alongside the development of the AWS-III, the company is developing associated, patented technologies such as remote mooring systems and believes there is significant potential for manufacturing key components in Scotland.
Another ocean energy company receiving funding from the Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council is Marine Current Turbines Ltd and its project partners Queen’s University Belfast, Mojo Maritime and Edinburgh University. It has secured a grant of £250,000 to develop a fully submerged (but easily surfaceable) SeaGen tidal turbine that can be deployed in deep water sites where there are large tidal ranges or significant wave environments.
The project will be led by Marine Current Turbines and will build on the success of the company’s SeaGen tidal system which has been generating electricity into the grid since 2008.
The funding awarded to both companies by the Technology Strategy Board is part of a £7 million (€8.4 million) funding package awarded to a total of 9 wave and tidal stream research and development projects. The projects are focusing on the twin aims of driving down the cost of energy while improving the reliability and performance of wave and tidal stream energy devices. Some of the projects will look to enhance the performance of existing devices while others aim to develop novel, breakthrough concepts.
“By 2050 we are going to have very different energy needs than we have today and we will be getting our energy from different sources. The UK is well placed to exploit wave and tidal stream energy resources with all of the coast line that we have, and it is expected this kind of technology will be an important part of the renewable energy mix needed in the future,” commented Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board. “We still need to prove which technological solutions will most successfully harness marine energy and we need to reduce the cost of the energy produced to make the technology competitive with other renewable energy solutions. So there are a range of technological challenges to address.”
The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive non-departmental public body, established by the UK government. Its role is to promote and support research into, and development and exploitation of, technology and innovation for the benefit of UK business, in order to increase economic growth and improve quality of life. It is sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
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