Scottish wave power firm Mocean Energy has secured £730,000 ($978,711) in equity funding from both private and public funders to accelerate the commercial roll-out of their wave energy technology, with a view to boosting the energy transition in the subsea oil and gas sectors.
The new funds will also enable Mocean to advance the design of its next-generation Blue Star wave machine, and drive its adoption in subsea oil and gas.
The funding round, led by the angel-funding syndicate Equity Gap, saw investment by government investment body Scottish Enterprise, as well as the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund, Old College Capital.
The new funds follow an £862,000 ($1.15 million) seed raise which completed in 2020, comprising £612,000 ($820,649) equity funding plus a £250,000 ($335,175) grant from Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency.
Last year the Scottish firm successfully trialled their Blue X prototype at sea at the European Wave Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. Currently, the company is collaborating with partners to advance a demonstrator project, called Renewables for Subsea Power, to show how their technology can be coupled with underwater energy storage to provide reliable low carbon power to subsea equipment and autonomous underwater vehicles.
They now plan to test this system at sea this year.
Have you read?
CorPower to assess ocean performance of wave energy converter
Eco Wave Power readies Israeli project for grid connection
US announces $25m for wave energy research and development
Commenting on the new funds, Mocean Energy Managing Director Cameron McNatt noted: “The equity funding is a tremendous boost and will allow us to accelerate our product roll out.
“This year we’ll start fabricating Blue Star 10 – a 10kW machine based around the Blue X design which will begin commercial trials in 2023.
“In parallel, we are developing our next-generation Blue Star 20, a 20kW machine based on a new optimised geometry, which will include solar panels and a novel direct drive generator, with trials and rollout targeted for 2024-25.
“Both products are aimed at opportunities in the oil and gas energy transition, defence, offshore wind, and ocean science markets where they can be used to provide power to remote subsea equipment, robotics, and monitoring systems,” McNatt says.
Kerry Sharp, Director of Growth Investments at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Bold and ambitious low carbon technology companies like Mocean Energy are fundamental to Scotland’s just transition to a net-zero emission economy. Scottish Enterprise is pleased that our ongoing support to the team at Mocean is helping them to scale up and explore their international aspirations, and we hope this most recent investment will see Mocean move ever closer to fully commercialising their innovative wave power technology.”
Last year a consortium comprising Mocean Energy, Verlume, Harbour Energy and Baker Hughes with funding from NZTC invested £1.6 million ($2.1 million) into a programme to develop a wave power and energy storage system for subsea operations.
This demonstrator project, called Renewables for Subsea Power, is showing how Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave machine can be coupled with underwater energy storage to provide cost-effective, low carbon power to subsea CCS injection equipment, oil and gas production equipment and autonomous underwater vehicles.
The partners plan to test the system at sea later this year.
The Blue X programme has been made possible through £3.3 million ($4.4 million) from Wave Energy Scotland which supported the development, construction and testing of the Blue X prototype at sea.
