AWS Ocean Energy Receives Further Support

Scotland’s AWS Ocean Energy is to receive significant further support from the Carbon Trust in the development of the company’s Archimedes Wave Swing (AWS), the world’s first submerged wave energy system. The support is part of the Marine Energy Accelerator Programme, the Carbon Trust initiative to accelerate the commercialisation of the marine energy sector in the UK. The announcement was made last night (September 24th) by the Carbon Trust at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth.

Simon Grey, Chief Executive of AWS Ocean Energy said: “The support of the Carbon Trust is very welcome as we take forward our wave technology for commercial deployment within the next 5 years and by doing so we can take full advantage of the huge energy potential that exists in British waters as well as in waters overseas. We will use the Marine Energy Accelerator funding to ensure that our technology is cost-competitive with other forms of renewable energy by focusing the MEA on the installation, operation and maintenance of our AWS sub-merged wave system.”

The Marine Energy Accelerator is one of the Carbon Trust’s portfolio of Technology Accelerators which aim to accelerate the development of promising low-carbon technologies and to which a total of £28m have been committed to date.

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, said: “We are leading the world in the development of marine energy and the UK is a hotbed of innovation for these key technologies. We have the potential to deliver up to 20 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs from marine energy and there are already a number of exciting technologies in development. To make this potential a commercial reality, marine needs sustained additional funding to accelerate its breakthrough into the mainstream of energy generation sources and the Marine Energy Accelerator is integral to this.”