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Aquamarine Power Ltd.
Company typePrivate limited company
IndustryRenewable energy
Founded2005 (2005)
Defunct2015
Headquarters
Edinburgh
,
Scotland, United Kingdom
Key people
Mervyn Jones
(Chairman)
Martin McAdam
(Chief Executive Officer)[1]
ProductsWave power technologies
Number of employees
14

Aquamarine Power was a British wave energy company, founded in 2005 to commercialise the Oyster wave energy converter, a device to capture energy from near-shore waves. The company's head offices were in Edinburgh, Scotland.[2] The company ceased trading in November 2015.

History

[edit]

The Oyster concept originated from studies conducted in 2003 by the wave power research team at Queen's University Belfast, led by Professor Trevor Whittaker. The studies were co-funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council[3] and Allan Thomson, who had previously founded and led the UK's first commercial wave energy company, Wavegen.[4]

In 2005, Thomson founded Aquamarine Power to progress the commercialisation of the Oyster device. In 2007, Scottish & Southern Energy subsidiary Renewable Technology Ventures Limited invested in Aquamarine[5] with a further investment in 2010.[6] In February 2009, Aquamarine Power and Queen's University signed an agreement to extend their R&D partnership to 2014.[7][8]

In February 2009, Aquamarine Power signed an agreement with renewable energy company Airtricity, a subsidiary of Scottish & Southern Energy, to develop marine energy sites using the Oyster system.[9]

In November 2009, the first full-scale, 315 kW,[10] Oyster demonstrator began producing power when it was launched at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) on Orkney.[11][12]

The second generation Oyster 2 – also called Oyster 800 (based on 800 kW rated power) – was tested at EMEC between 2012 and 2015.[13] The plan was to install three devices (2.4 MW total installed capacity) at Billia Croo,[14] but only one was installed. The project was provisionally dubbed the Orkney Wave Power Station.

Lewis Wave Energy Farm

[edit]
Lewis Wave Energy Farm
Map
Country
  • United Kingdom
LocationNorth-west Lewis
Coordinates58°25′24″N 6°27′27″W / 58.42333°N 6.45750°W / 58.42333; -6.45750
StatusAbandoned proposal
Power generation
Units operational40-50 × 0.8-1.0 MW proposed
Make and modelAquamarine Oyster
Nameplate capacity40 MW
External links
Websitewww.aquamarinepower.com
[edit on Wikidata]

In March 2012, Aquamarine announced plans to install 40–50 Oyster devices on the seabed off the Western Isles in Scotland. The project was intended to be able to supply electricity to more than 38,000 homes.[15] The site was to be off the coast of Lag na Greine, near Fivepenny Borve (Scottish Gaelic: Còig Peighinnean Bhuirgh), on the exposed north-west coast of the Isle of Lewis.[16]

At the All Energy conference in May 2013, government minister Fergus Ewing announced the 40 MW scheme had been granted full consents, making it the largest permitted wave project.[17] Construction was anticipated to start "in the next few years", although this was subject to upgrades to the electricity grid: a new high-voltage inter-connector cable was required to transmit green electricity from Lewis to the mainland of Scotland. In 2013, SSE announced they would not be able to build the inter-connector before 2017, potentially putting renewable energy projects at risk.[16]

Key people

[edit]

The company's chief executive officer was Martin McAdam, who joined in 2008.[18] The company was advised by Trevor Whittaker, inventor of the Oyster concept, and by Stephen Salter, inventor of the Salter's Duck.[19][20]

Investors

[edit]

In November 2009, Aquamarine Power announced an investment of £11 million in the business.[21] The principal investor during this investment round was ABB Group who invested £8 million.[22][self-published source?] The other investors during the round included Scottish and Southern Energy who invested £2.7 million, with other historical investors making up the balance of £300k,[23] among them Sigma Capital Group[24] and Scottish Enterprise.[25]

Awards

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Aquamarine Power won several awards. In 2008, it was named Emerging Technology Promoter of the Year in the Ernst & Young Euromoney Global Renewable Energy Awards.[26] In 2009, it was named Innovator of the Year by the British Renewable Energy Association.[27] It also received the Innovation Award for Energy at the Engineer Technology and Innovation Awards 2009[28] and Scottish Green Awards for the Best Green Industry SME.[29] In 2010 it was listed on the GlobalCleantech 100 list.[30]

Administration

[edit]

On 28 October 2015, BBC News reported that Aquamarine Power had called in administrators.[31] No buyer was found and less than a month later, on 20 November, the company ceased to trade with the loss of fourteen jobs.[32][33][2]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "About us: The team". Aquamarine Power. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b Mackie, Gareth (15 December 2015). "Aquamarine Power administrators seek sale of IP". The Scotsman. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  3. ^ Burke, Maria (2009). "Harnessing the power of the sea" (PDF). Pioneer. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. pp. 19–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  4. ^ "Wave Energy Wave Power Clean Renewable Electricity Generation - Wavegen". Archived from the original on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  5. ^ "Wave and tidal power join forces". The Engineer. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  6. ^ "SSE - News articles". Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  7. ^ "Queen's University Energy Partnership Makes Waves for UK". Renewable Energy World. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Queen's Belfast extends wave power collaboration with Aquamarine". Science|Business. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  9. ^ Hurst, Greg. "Aquamarine Power signs agreement with Airtricity". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
  10. ^ "AMP - AMP". AMP. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  11. ^ "EMEC: European Marine Energy Centre - Wave Energy Developers". Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  12. ^ "Home".
  13. ^ "Aquamarine Power : EMEC: European Marine Energy Centre". Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  14. ^ McCulloch, Scott (14 September 2011). "Aquamarine Power installs first Oyster 800 device offshore Orkney". businessInsider. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  15. ^ "Displays of Edinburgh firm's wave power plan for Lewis". BBC News. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  16. ^ a b "World's biggest wave energy farm off Lewis gets go-ahead". The Herald. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  17. ^ Peterson, Inger (4 June 2013). "Aquamarine Power Secures Full Consent for 40MW Lewis Wave Energy Farm | Energy | News". Ocean News & Technology. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  18. ^ Dailyrecord.co.uk (20 August 2008). "New boss for Aquamarine Power". dailyrecord.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  19. ^ "AMP - AMP". AMP. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  20. ^ "AMP - AMP". AMP. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  21. ^ "Aquamarine Power secures first £10M for wave energy tech | Cleantech Group". Archived from the original on 14 December 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  22. ^ "Aquamarine Power secures major investment" (Press release). Scottish Enterprise. 24 November 2010. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  23. ^ "SSE Venture Capital - The Edinburgh Reporter". www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk. 24 November 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  24. ^ "Aquamarine Power waves hello to £6m investment". businessgreen.com. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  25. ^ "Scottish Enterprise Media Centre". Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  26. ^ http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Industry_Utilities_Renewable_energy_country_attractiveness_indices_Q3_2008/$File/Renewable_Energy_Country_Attractiveness_Indices_Q3_2008.pdf [permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ "Innovator Award — Renewable Energy Association". Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  28. ^ "Engineer Awards". Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  29. ^ "Scottish Green Awards". Archived from the original on 8 May 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  30. ^ "GlobalCleantech100". Archived from the original on 15 October 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  31. ^ "Aquamarine Power calls in administrators". BBC News. 28 October 2015.
  32. ^ "Jobs lost as wave energy firm Aquamarine Power folds". BBC News. 23 November 2015.
  33. ^ Macnab, Scott (9 December 2015). "Scots taxpayers lose £35m in failed renewables firms". The Scotsman. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
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