We welcome the news that Aquamarine Power, Pelamis Wave Power and Hammerfest Storm UK have all won sizeable funding from the Carbon Trust to help prove the commercial viability of marine renewables.

Aquamarine Power, based in Edinburgh, has been awarded £5.1m – also met by investors – to develop the second generation of its Oyster Wave device, currently producing electricity in Orkney.

Martin McAdam, CEO of Aquamarine Power, said: “The funding is a major boost and will allow us to develop Oyster 2, a 2.5MW machine which will be eight times more powerful than the one we are currently testing.”

Pelamis Wave Power has been awarded with £4.2m develop its next advanced wave machine, dubbed the Pelamis P2. The new model is expected to produce enough electricity to power around 500 homes.

Max Carcas, business development director of Pelamis Wave Power, said: “The scheme will lead to faster progress in the marine energy sector and lower risk investment propositions for the private sector, driving the sector towards large scale deployment sooner.”

Hammerfest Strom UK – a joint venture between Hammerfest Strom AS Norway and ScottishPower Renewables – has won £3.9m, which will help fund its much anticipated tidal device, named HS1000. Hammerfest is also expected to install ten tidal turbines in the Sound of Islay region between Argyll and Bute. Hammerfest hopes that the tidal turbines will produce enough electricity for the whole of the Island.

Keith Anderson, director of ScottishPower Renewables, said: “Scotland is blessed with an abundance of renewable energy potential, and tidal offers perhaps the greatest source of power. The deployment of the HS1000 device is a major milestone in Scotland’s ambitions to tap-in to this new source of energy.”

All three companies are planning to install their next generation marine renewable devices at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. The Carbon Trust has released a statement underlining the need for the technology, which could amount to around 1,000 wave and tidal devices by 2020.

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