Scottish wave energy start-up to trial tech in Orkney

The Edinburgh firm has raised £612,000 equity seed funding plus £250,000 from Innovate UK to advance the design of its Blue Star wave machine, which is being developed to provide renewable energy for subsea systems such as the ROVS and autonomous underwater vehicles that are used widely in the offshore sector.

“Our goal is to produce a commercially-available wave machine which can deliver low carbon power for tie backs and future fleets of autonomous AUVs [autonomous underwater vehicles],” explained Mocean Energy Managing Director Cameron McNatt.

The technology is based on a hinged raft concept, in which the flexing movement of two hulls – connected by a hinge and moored to the seabed – is used to drive an internal generator. Whilst similar concepts have been explored before – perhaps most notably the now defunct Pelamis wave energy converter previously covered by The Engineer – Mocean claims that the shape of the hulls used in its system distinguishes it from other technology.