AWS Ocean Energy welcomes Crown Estate plans

Scottish marine energy company, AWS Ocean Energy, today welcomed the announcement from the Crown Estate to encourage the development of tidal and wave power in the Pentland Firth and surrounding waters.

In response to the Crown Estate’s ambitious plans, AWS Ocean’s Chief Executive, Simon Grey, said: “This provides another important spur to the commercial development of marine energy in Scotland and the UK. Harnessing the energy within the Pentland Firth will be challenging but we intend to play our part in realising this fantastic opportunity. AWS Ocean is developing a range of technologies for use in the wave and tidal sector, such as affordable anchoring solutions, that will be just as vital as the generation systems in maximising the energy potential of the Pentland Firth.”

He added: “From our own experience, the developers of wave and tidal technologies face enormous challenges in rough and inhospitable environments to extract the energy on a year-round, long-term and sustainable basis. Drawing from our experience with our own Waveswing device, we are developing pioneering and enabling technologies which will help devices realise the breakthrough needed.”

The Crown Estate announcement laid out the timetable for the leasing of the seabed, in much the same way as off-shore wind, with the Pentland Firth offering some of the best marine resources in the world. The Pentland Firth is often described as the ‘Saudi Arabia of marine energy’.