Policy

A number of new marine energy projects are getting underway in the UK and elsewhere around the globe.

UK company Ocean Power Technologies has deployed one of its PowerBuoys® at the Marine Corps Base in Hawaii as part of a programme with the US Navy to test and develop wave power.

The project, which has received an additional $380,000 from the Marine Corps, will operate the 40 kW PowerBuoy one mile offshore in 100 feet of water in the Kaneohe Bay on the island Oahu.

Meanwhile, a 1 MW tidal turbine developed by Norwegian company Hammerfest Strøm is to be constructed and tested at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

The UK’s Carbon Trust has awarded the company’s UK subsidiary a £3.9 million grant to develop the HS1000, which could be fully operation and deployed by 2011.

Following the initial tests, Hammerfest will work with ScottishPower Renewables to deploy the device as part of the world’s largest tidal power demonstration project – a 10 MW array in the Sound of Islay scheduled for 2012.

“The deployment of the HS1000 device is a major milestone in Scotland’s ambitions to tap-in to this new source of energy,” says Keith Anderson, director of ScottishPower Renewables.

Scotland’s efforts to promote marine energy have received a further boost with the award of £5.1 million in public funding to wave energy developer Aquamarine Power to manufacture its second generation wave energy device, Oyster 2.

The grant from the Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF), a £22 million initiative funded by the UK Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and managed by the Carbon Trust, will also support testing of the device next year at EMEC.

A first generation 315 kW Oyster device was connected to the grid in last November and is currently undergoing sea trials. The shape of the new device has been redesigned for increased performance and efficiency, as well as ease of manufacture on a mass scale.

And finally, Swedish energy giant Vattenfall has formed a joint venture with Irish wave energy company Wavebob to carry out a wave power project in northeastern Ireland. Tonn Energy, with support from investment and development agency IDA Ireland, expects to receive the necessary permissions by 2012 to start on the next stage of testing actual wave devices.

For further information:
www.oceanpowertechnologies.com
www.hammerfeststrom.com/content/view/47/76/lang,en/
www.scottishpowerrenewables.com/
www.aquamarinepower.com
www.vattenfall.com/en/index.htm
www.wavebob.com/

Related stories:
Iberdrola launches €30 million marine energy project (12-Jan)
Vattenfall and Pelamis to join forces on wave power project (16-Dec 2009)
Marine renewables could contribute £2.5 billion to Scottish economy (28-Aug 2009)