8th January 2019

Mocean Energy has secured £3.3 million to develop its wave energy technology of the future.

Its ‘Blue Horizon’ wave energy device will take to the sea in 2020 following the award from Wave Energy Scotland.

Edinburgh-based Mocean Energy will use the funds to build a half-scale wave energy machine and test it in real ocean conditions at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

This will lead to the technology being developed at full-scale in the years ahead.

Mocean Energy was one of only two firms to secure an award in this round.

Commenting on the awards Cameron McNatt, Managing Director of Mocean Energy said:

“This award is a tremendous boost to our company and a massive vote of confidence in our technology.

“There is a pressing global need to develop new sources of green power and these funds will enable us to build and test our Blue Horizon technology in demanding sea conditions – and draw upon the tremendous marine renewables experience available in Orkney,” McNatt says.

Mocean Energy’s winning design was selected following assessment using Wave Energy Scotland’s ‘stage gate’ selection process which assessed the most promising concepts before they proceeded to the next funding stage.

Over the course of four years, eight original Wave Energy Converter (WEC) concepts were narrowed down to four and then two. Mocean Energy and one other technology company were selected through a rigorous assessment procedure where Wave Energy Scotland staff and independent external experts worked through a wide set of technical and commercial criteria to evaluate each submission.

In this two-year phase, Mocean Energy will team up with the C-GEN project led by the University of Edinburgh, which has secured £2.5 million from WES to trial a scale prototype of its direct drive power take off (PTO) system.

“Collaboration is the key to success in the wave energy sector and we are delighted to be using C-GEN in this exciting next phase.

“Our first joint step will be to build a test rig where we can optimise how the Mocean WEC and the PTO will operate together,” McNatt concludes.