Scotland's First Wave Energy Farm Goes Under

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Scotland's first wave energy farm has been put on hold for at least five years by struggling wave energy company, Aquamarine Power Limited (Edinburgh, Scotland).

The company has blamed technical issues for its decision to postpone plans to install wave energy devices with a combined capacity of up to 40-megawatts (MW) off the west coast of the island of Lewis. The company had been granted permission for a 30 MW farm between Bàgh Dhail Beag and Tràigh Shanndaigh, while the second was for a 10 MW demonstration project at a site between Siadar and Fivepenny, known as the Galson site. Up to 40 of its near-shore Oyster devices were to be deployed along a 2-kilometer stretch of coastline, which could have generated enough power for approximately 38,000 homes.

However, the company told media that those plans are now on hold. There have been some technical issues with the Oyster device during its time at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), a wave testing facility in Orkney. The company also said that one key obstacle to the Lewis project was the lack of an electricity link between the Outer Hebrides and the Scottish mainland grid.

"After more than three full winters at sea the Oyster 800 machine has now completed its test programme," a spokesman for Aquamarine Power told the Sunday Herald. "In that time our second full-scale machine has demonstrated its survivability in all seas including waves over eight metres high. Our machine has successfully generated electrical power into the Orkney grid network and has yielded incredibly valuable operating data which confirms the Oyster wave energy converter performs in line with tank test and numerical modelling predictions."

He added: "We have therefore decided to draw our Oyster 800 test programme to an end. Aquamarine Power is now focussed on the development of the next-generation Oyster in parallel with critical sub-systems such as WavePOD, a pan-industry power take off system being developed in partnership with Bosch Rexroth and Carnegie Wave Energy. As well as offering improved performance and reliability at lower cost, WavePOD will be capable of generic application across a range of wave energy technologies, and we hope this innovative approach will accelerate learning and cost reduction in the industry."

In December Aquamarine Power announced a significant scaling down of its business, cutting staff from 50 to 18 after recording a heavy loss for the financial year. It blamed challenging regulatory, financial and technical reasons for its decision to downsize the business.

The company is one of a number of marine energy casualties in the past year. German engineering giant Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) announced its exit from the sector after just two years in December. It plans to sell Marine Current Turbines (MCT) (Bristol, England), which it bought in 2012. For additional information, see December 9, 2014, article - Wave of Losses Swamps Marine Energy Sector.

A month earlier, seasoned marine energy company Pelamis Wave Power (Edinburgh, Scotland) went into administration. For additional information, see November 25, 2014, article - Scotland Pledges More Wave Energy Support.

The most recent departure was by Swedish power major Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden) which announced that it was exiting the Scottish marine energy sector last month. It plans to appoint a liquidator for its Aegir Wave Power (AWP) joint venture company, which it established in 2009 with Pelamis Wave Power. For additional information, see February 13, 2015, article - Vattenfall Sinks Wave Power Business.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the Industrial Info "Contact Us" page.