www.renewableenergyfocus.com
05 February 2010
Wave energy developer Aquamarine Power has secured £5.1 million Government funding to make its second generation wave energy device, Oyster 2. The new wave energy device will be manufactured later this year for testing at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney (EMEC) in 2011. The first generation 315 kW Oyster wave energy device was officially connected to the National Grid at EMEC in November 2009 and is currently undergoing sea trials to gather data to finalise the Oyster 2 design, which will be deployed as a 2.5 MW pod of three linked wave energy devices powering a single onshore hydro-electric generator. The Oyster 2 wave energy device features a new shape designed for increased performance and efficiency – capturing more wave energy and producing more power per tonne of steel, according to Aquamarine Power.
It has also been designed for mass manufacture and will consist of a modular construction for ease of installation and maintenance. Multiple wave energy devices will share one pipeline and one onshore generator to get efficiencies of scale. The grant came from the Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF), a £22m initiative funded by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and managed by the Carbon Trust. The fund aims to accelerate the leading and most promising marine energy devices towards the point where they can qualify for the UK Government's existing Marine Renewables Deployment Fund support scheme and, ultimately, be deployed on a commercial scale.
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