Our story
Our story first started in 2001 when Professor Trevor
Whittaker's research and development team at Queen's University,
Belfast began to research flap-type wave power devices with a view
to reducing the cost of energy. The R&D team's research
ultimately led to the development of the Oyster wave energy
device.
The innovative design of the Oyster wave energy
converter attracted the interest of Allan Thomson, the retired
founder of WaveGen, the UK's first ever wave power company.
Allan went on to co-fund further R&D into the Oyster wave power
device. In 2005, Allan set up Aquamarine Power to bring
Oyster wave power technology to the commercial market.
Securing investment
In 2007, we secured an investment of £6.3 million from major
utility SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc). We also
secured a further investment of £1.5 million from venture
capitalist Sigma Capital Group plc. This gave us the
financial backing and additional industry expertise we needed to
progress our Oyster wave energy technology from scale model wave
tank testing to full-scale sea trials.
In 2008 we completed the fabrication of our first full-scale
prototype Oyster wave energy converter and in 2009 we
installed Oyster 1 at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC)
in Orkney when it began producing power to the grid for the first
time. In 2011 we installed our next-generation Oyster 800
wave energy device at EMEC.
Rapid company growth
In 2008 we completed our senior management team and our company
rapidly expanded as we went from four employees to a team of 15 in
only three months.
We continue to grow rapidly. We now employ over 60 staff
who are all working towards our vision of making marine renewable
energy mainstream. SSE remains a major shareholder in
Aquamarine Power. In 2010, we also secured major investment
from ABB, one of the world's largest power and automation
companies.