Wave energy developer Aquamarine Power was awarded over £3 million from the Scottish Government to support the development of its next-generation Oyster wave energy device.

Aquamarine Power received the grant from the WATERS fund (Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support) which is run and administered by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of a collaborative venture involving Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

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The funding will support the further development of the 2.4MW Oyster demonstration project in Scotland. Phased installation of the project will begin at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney in Summer 2011. The WATERS project follows on directly from Aquamarine Power’s MRPF project which was announced earlier this year.

Martin McAdam, Chief Executive Officer of Aquamarine Power commented:

“The marine energy industry has the potential to provide huge economic benefit to Scotland and Scottish businesses, with the creation of skilled jobs, a global export market and a secure and clean domestic energy supply. At this early stage of the industry, funding initiatives like the WATERS scheme are vital to help deliver this for Scotland.

Paul Lewis, Managing Director, Sector and Commercialisation, at Scottish Enterprise commented:
“The WATERS fund can generate real economic benefit for Scotland and Scottish businesses, as the five company grants being awarded today demonstrate. Aquamarine Power’s Oyster demonstration is exactly the kind of innovative, cutting edge project that we hoped to support through the fund and I look forward to following the project’s progress.”

“We would like to express our sincere thanks to the WATERS partners for this funding and their wider support for our business. The Scottish Government and enterprise agencies should be commended for their dedicated support of Scotland’s marine energy.

“It’s fantastic to see the Scottish Government working closely with other funders such as the Carbon Trust to ensure the pace of industry development is maintained.”

“We would also like to thank our shareholders, especially Scottish and Southern Energy, whose continued support is very important to us. Last month, we were able to announce that we had successfully raised an additional £6 million of funding.”

Paul Lewis, Managing Director, Sector and Commercialisation, at Scottish Enterprise commented:

“The WATERS fund can generate real economic benefit for Scotland and Scottish businesses, as the five company grants being awarded today demonstrate. Aquamarine Power’s Oyster demonstration is exactly the kind of innovative, cutting edge project that we hoped to support through the fund and I look forward to following the project’s progress.”

The £15 million WATERS scheme has been designed to support the construction and installation of pre-commercial full-scale wave and tidal stream device prototypes in Scottish waters.

The Oyster demonstration project will consist of three 800kW flaps, each measuring 26 metres by 16 metres. Each flap will deliver 250 per cent more power than the original Oyster prototype, which was successfully deployed at EMEC in 2009.

The three devices will be linked to a single onshore 2.4 MW hydro-electric turbine. The new devices incorporate a number of design improvements, which means they will produce more energy, be simpler to install and easier to maintain. A small farm of 20 Oyster devices would provide enough energy for more than 12,000 homes.

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