News
Scottish Energy minister announces £1.39 million funding support for AWS Ocean Energy.
Funding support for AWS Ocean Energy was announced today (Tuesday July 6th, 2010) by Jim Mather, the Scottish Government Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism ahead of his visit to Loch Ness to view trials of the company’s new wave energy device.
Mr Mather confirmed that Inverness-based AWS Ocean Energy is to receive £1.39 million of funding support through the WATERS programme (Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support). The funding 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.
On his visit this afternoon, Mr Mather will get a close up view of the 1/9th scale version of the device being tested on Loch Ness. Energy Minister Jim Mather said: “Our seas have unrivalled potential to generate clean, green energy and bring jobs, investment and knowhow to Scotland. I am delighted to visit Loch Ness to see how AWS Ocean Energy is working very hard to make that happen.
“Today’s announcement of £1.39 million in WATERS funding will support the company’s innovative efforts to harness the power of our waters and - as part of a wider £13 million package of funding to support the development of emerging technologies - is another important step towards a low carbon Scotland that maximises its resources for a sustainable future.”
Welcoming the Scottish Government announcement on WATERS programme funding, Simon Grey, chief executive of AWS Ocean Energy said, “We were delighted to host this visit by Jim Mather. It provided a great opportunity to thank him personally for the valuable support we have received from the Scottish Government.
“This funding represents a vitally important boost for the development of our AWS-III wave energy device. The current trials on Loch Ness are delivering promising results and we are all very excited by the potential. We are delighted that the Scottish Government has chosen AWS as one of the companies tasked to address the fundamental barriers to delivering practical, cost effective wave energy.
“The WATERS grant award has come at exactly the right time for us and will support the final stages of de-risking the key component of the AWS-III technology. We have seen significant interest in our Loch Ness trials by the major utilities and I believe that our company now presents an exciting prospect for investment by leading industrial companies seeking to exploit the market for wave energy generators. As a research intensive company, we are actively seeking to attract further private investment and the Scottish Government’s recognition of our work, together with the clear market demand for AWS-III created by the Pentland Firth wave power licensing round, will be invaluable in securing this.
“As a company rooted very firmly in Inverness, we are also keen to stress today’s announcement is another major step forward in the journey to create a clean tech economy, where the Highlands and Islands of Scotland stand to benefit enormously through the creation of jobs and economic wealth.”
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. Scale testing of the AWS-III on Loch Ness is currently being carried out to provide valuable design data and confirm the AWS-III’s revenue generation potential. The test device will be temporarily withdrawn from Loch Ness later this month for engineering work and will be re-deployed in September for additional testing over a 6 week period. After a detailed assessment of the trial results, the company will then build and deploy a full-scale version of one of the wave absorption cells to prove the durability of this critical sub-system.
The company is seeking industrial and utility partners to enable launching of a 12-cell, 2.5MW pre-commercial demonstrator in 2012 and subsequent commercialisation of the technology. Such partnerships are the only practical way to make commercial wave power a reality. 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.
WATERS funding is managed and administered by Scottish Enterprise, in partnership with the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Source: Highlands & islands Enterprise. (http://www.hie.co.uk) Click here to read more. Date: 06 July 2010
