Inverness based AWS Ocean Energy has today received additional funding support to develop its new wave energy device.

The Highlands company and its project partner, the University of Strathclyde, have received £350,000 from the Technology Strategy Board, sponsored by the UK government to promote and support innovation and technology.

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.

The funding from the Technology Strategy Board is part of a £7m million funding package awarded to 9 wave and tidal stream research and development projects.

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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.

Simon Grey, Chief Executive of AWS Ocean Energy said: “This latest funding is very welcome as we continue to develop our AWS-III wave energy device. As with WATERS, our application for funding was approved after careful scrutiny by the Technology Strategy Board, and so it is another positive statement about our R&D work to date.

"Our trials on Loch Ness will restart in September for a 6 week period and thereafter a detailed assessment of the trial results will be undertaken before we start building and then deploy a full-scale version of one of the wave absorption cells.”

Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, added: “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 coastline 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.

“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."

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.

(GK/KMcA)