Aquamarine Power is a wave energy company, with head offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and further operations in Orkney and Northern Ireland. The company is currently developing its flagship technology, an innovative hydro-electric wave energy converter, known as Oyster. Aquamarine Power’s goal is to develop commercial Oyster wave farms around the world.
The first demonstration-scale Oyster has been successfully deployed at sea at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland and was officially launched by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond MP, MSP in November 2009 when it began producing power to the National Grid to power homes in Orkney and beyond. Oyster's performance is now being monitored and the results from the testing will provide a basis for the design of the next-generation commercial-scale Oyster 2.
Scotland's First Minister launches the first Oyster wave power device
Alongside its technology development, Aquamarine Power offers a wave farm site development service to support the growth of Oyster. The company’s innovative computer modelling system allows it to identify and develop the best sites for wave energy production around the globe.
In a ground-breaking development for the marine energy sector this year, Aquamarine Power entered into a strategic alliance with SSE Renewables to co-develop up to 1,000MW of Oyster sites. The joint venture partnership is currently developing a 2MW demonstration site for 2011, to be expanded to 10MW in 2012 and 200MW thereafter. This partnership represents by far the largest commitment to date in the marine energy industry, by any major utility.
Scotland's First Minister with some of the Aquamarine Power team
Find out more about Aquamarine Power in this interview with CEO Martin McAdam: