WAVES CLOSE BIG DEAL, READY POWER

Wave energy firm agrees £2m deal
Natalie Thomas, 22 March 2009 (Scotland On Sunday)

"Scotland’s ambition to become a leader in marine energy [took] another step forward… with the announcement of a £2m contract to install the UK's first near-shore wave energy generator off the coast of Orkney.

"Aquamarine Power…has signed a £2m contract with marine construction group Fugro Seacore to install its 'Oyster' convertor at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney…The technology, designed for waters of between eight and 16 metres in depth, is expected to be installed 500 metres offshore by the autumn."

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"It is hoped that it will contribute between 300kW and 600kW to the National Grid, a small step towards the Scottish Government's goal to source 50% of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

"The scheme in Orkney is the first in what Aquamarine hopes will be a string of projects after it last month agreed a joint venture with a subsidiary of Scottish & Southern Energy to develop one gigawatt of wave and tidal power off the coast of the UK and Ireland by 2020.

"The deal with Airtricity, the renewable energy firm acquired by SSE…was heralded as "the biggest deal in the history of marine energy"…Work has also begun on another unnamed location and Aquamarine is investigating several other sites."

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"Aquamarine's Oyster converter consists of a single pump which, when hit by a wave, sends high-pressure water through a pipeline beneath the sea to an onshore generator. This then converts the water into electricity using hydroelectric generators…

"…[E]xperts predict that Scotland could eventually account for 25% of Europe's total tidal electricity generation and 10% of wave energy generation…[But] it is thought it will be several years before marine energy becomes a credible, commercially viable force…"