Wave energy company Mocean Energy has raised £730,000 in equity funding to accelerate the commercial roll-out of its technology.
It secured the investment from existing funders, including angel syndicate Equity Gap, Old College Capital – the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund – and Scottish Enterprise.
The funds will advance its Blue Star wave machine, which last year was tested at the European Wave Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
Mocean Energy is also currently working as part of the Renewables for Subsea Power demonstrator project, collaborating with partners Verlume, Harbour Energy and Baker Hughes to show how its Blue X wave machine can be coupled with underwater energy storage. This could help to provide low carbon power to subsea equipment and autonomous underwater vehicles.
In 2021, the partners secured £1.6 million in funding from Net Zero Technology Centre, and now plan to test the system in the sea this year.
Mocean Energy managing director Cameron McNatt said the new equity funding is “tremendous boost” to its product roll out.
“This year we’ll start fabricating Blue Star 10 – a 10 kW machine based around the Blue X design which will begin commercial trails 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.”
The funding follows Mocean Energy’s seed raise of £862,000 in 2020, made up of £612,000 equity funding plus a £250,000 grant from Innovate UK.
Along with the company’s technology, EMEC is facilitating the development of a number of other wave and tidal technologies, including Orbital Marine Power’s tidal turbine and the potential of combining tidal energy, flow batteries and hydrogen.
