Edinburgh-based Mocean Energy receive funding for scaled-up wave energy trails

Wave energy developer Mocean Energy have secured over £3 million EU funding to develop and deploy a 250kW wave machine at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC)’s Billia Croo wave test site in Orkney, the world’s first open-sea test facility for wave and tidal energy devices.

To put this into perspective, the 20m-long Blue X prototype that was deployed at the site in 2021, delivered steady outputs of around 5 kW and peaks of 30 kW.

This much larger scale wave energy device – named Blue Horizon 250 – is designed for commercial applications on islands and remote communities, while also including early grid projects and off-grid applications, such as oil and gas and aquaculture.

The Blue X prototype was built in Scotland with around 80 percent local supply chain content, and it is anticipated Blue Horizon will deliver similar levels of local work.

Cameron McNatt, Mocean Energy Co-founder and Managing Director, said: ‘This is a major milestone for Mocean Energy.

‘We have already demonstrated our technology successfully at small scale and this programme will allow us to build a significantly larger machine based on our proven hinged raft design, and incorporate our novel direct drive generator.

‘Looking further ahead, our goal is to deliver a small array in UK waters this decade, and I am confident that with appropriate innovation funding in place we can realise our ambition to build commercial wave energy arrays and generate home-grown green energy from our seas, both in the UK and around the world.’

The deployment and demonstration of the Blue X at EMEC was funded by Wave Energy Scotland (WES) and supported by Interreg North-West Europe’s Ocean DEMO project.

Neil Kermode, EMEC’s Managing Director, said: ‘Mocean Energy first came to Orkney in June 2021 with the testing of their Blue X prototype on our scale test site in Scapa Flow for a five month test campaign gaining initial operational experience in real-sea conditions.

‘We’re delighted to see Mocean secure this funding and continue the next steps in their development journey in Orkney which will see them deploy at our grid-connected test site at Billia Croo. This perfectly illustrates the importance of facilities and services that enable practical demonstration and allows learning by doing.’