Scottish wave energy firm lands £730,000 funding

Cameron McNatt said the company has seen increasing interest from the oil and gas sector

A wave power company has secured a major new investment to speed up the commercial rollout of its technology.

Mocean Energy raised £730,000 in equity funding to advance the design of its Blue Star wave machine and drive its adoption in subsea oil and gas.

Managing director Cameron McNatt said the technology could be used to provide power to remote subsea equipment.

Its Blue X prototype was successfully trialled at the European Wave Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney last year.

And the firm is currently collaborating on a demonstrator project, called Renewables for Subsea Power, to show how the technology can be coupled with underwater energy storage to provide reliable low carbon power to subsea equipment and autonomous underwater vehicles.

They plan to test this system at sea this year.

Blue X prototype successfully trailed at sea in 2021

Mr McNatt said: "The equity funding is a tremendous boost and will allow us to accelerate our product rollout.

"This year we'll start fabricating Blue Star 10 - a 10 kW 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 20 kW 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."

Mocean Energy are targeting a rollout of 2024-25 for Blue Star 20

The company said it has seen increasing interest from the oil and gas sector and opened an office in Aberdeen to meet customer demand.

It gathered funding from existing funders, led by angel syndicate Equity Gap, together with Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh's in-house venture investment fund, and Scottish Enterprise.

Kerry Sharp, director of growth investments at Scottish Enterprise, said it was pleased to help in commercialising the wave power technology.

She said: "Bold and ambitious low carbon technology companies like Mocean Energy are fundamental to Scotland's just transition to a net-zero emission economy."