Aquamarine Scraps Tidal Power, Focuses on Waves

Aquamarine Power will no longer carry the distinction of being a player in both of the ways to capture ocean power.

The Edinburgh, Scotland-based company said Wednesday that it’s scrapping development of its Neptune tidal power devices to concentrate on its Oyster wave power devices. 

Aquamarine said the change won’t affect its deal with Scottish and Southern Energy’s renewable energy division Airtricity to develop 1 gigawatt of ocean power by 2020 (see Aquamarine to build 1GW of Ocean Power). 

Ocean power has seen some setbacks. One wave power leader, Pelamis Wave Power, recently revealed that it had canceled testing of three of its 750-kilowatt wave machines off the Portugal coast due to technical problems and financing difficulties (see Pelamis Wave Machines Cranking Hundreds of Kilowatts, Pre-Crisis). 

And Finavera Renewables saw one of its test wave power buoys sink in a test off the Oregon coast. That played a part in leading the California Public Utility Commission in October to deny what would have been the first wave-power purchase contract in the United States, between the company and utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (see California Sinks Its First Wave Energy Project).  

Unlike the devices from those two companies, which are designed to float on the surface of water from 60 meters to 100 meters deep, Aquamarine’s Oyster is designed to sit under water that’s 10 meters deep or so. The Oyster’s bottom half will rest on the ocean floor and a top “oscillating flap” will generate power by capturing wave motion. (For an image of the device, click here). 

How the device will fare in real world conditions remains to be seen. The Oyster is set for testing this summer at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Stromness, Scotland.

While it accounts for less than 10 megawatts of installed capacity today, ocean power could be a prominent source of renewable energy if technical difficulties can be overcome.

The Electric Power Research Institute has estimated wave and tidal power could provide up to 10 gigawatts of power in the United States by 2025. Global marine power could grow to 1 gigawatt in the next six years, according to GTM Research analyst Daniel Englander (see Trawling for $500M in Ocean Power).

Aquamarine is likely to continue to get support from Scottish and Southern Energy, given the utility’s stake in the startup. In October 2007 the utility invested £6.3 million ($9 million) through its Renewable Technology Ventures Ltd. subsidiary, and another £1.5 million ($2.1 million) from subsidiary Sigma Capital Group.