The Welsh government has invested £2 million into Inyanga Marine Energy to support the growth of Wales’ marine energy sector.
The investment, which was announced by Welsh first minister Eluned Morgan at the Marine Energy Wales Conference in Cardiff today (7 May), will be used to fund the development of improved tidal energy turbines that will allow them to generate up to 60% more energy than their predecessors. These turbines will be tested in real sea conditions at the Morlais tidal energy site, a 35km2 area of seabed off the coast of Ynys Mon (Anglesey).
Inyanga Marine Energy is at the forefront of tidal energy developments in Wales. In June of last year, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Verdant Morlais Ltd (VML), which will see the two firms collaborate to develop a tidal stream energy project at the Morlais site. Under this partnership, Inyanga will deliver a full engineering, procurement, and construction solution to VML and a long-term operations and maintenance contract.
HydroWing was the largest tidal stream project awarded in the UK government’s latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round (AR6). Building on a 10MW contract awarded in the previous allocation round, the CfD doubled the size of the HydroWing project at Morlais to 20MW, making it the largest tidal energy project in the UK.
Later in the year, Inyanga Marine Energy also announced it was launching a crowdfunding round to help boost development of its HydroWing tidal stream energy solution, having completed hydrodynamic testing of the Passive Pitch Unit for the product the previous month.
First Minister Eluned Morgan called the investment “a big step forward for Wales’ clean energy future”. She stated that the improved turbines will make tidal energy “more practical” and added that the government is “putting Wales at the forefront of marine energy technology”.
Richard Parkinson, CEO of Inyanga Marine Energy Group stated that the investment was “a milestone” for tidal energy development in the UK, noting that the Morlais project is “right at the forefront of developments in renewable energy, untapping the full potential of ocean tides as a perpetual and predictable source of energy.”
