Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) — Aquamarine Power Ltd., a developer of
wave-energy devices backed by ABB Ltd., is talking with possible
new strategic investors to help bring its technology to market.
The company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, plans to add one
or two investors to provide funds and know-how, Chief Executive
Officer Martin McAdam said by e-mail, declining to elaborate.
ABB, the world’s biggest supplier of power grids, Siemens
AG, Alstom SA and DCNS SA have bought stakes in marine-energy
businesses such as Aquamarine and Tidal Generation Ltd. This
year developers will get projects into the water as the industry
moves toward producing pre-commercial wave farms, McAdam said.
“Once these schemes get underway and start delivering
electricity in 2014 and 2015, I anticipate we may see
consolidation in the tidal sector, and new investment in leading
wave energy technologies,” he said.
Aquamarine is testing its device at the European Marine
Energy Centre in Orkney and plans to install another machine at
the same site next year, McAdam said. The company expects to win
full approval from the Scottish government in “coming weeks”
for a 40-megawatt facility off the Isle of Lewis, he said.
It plans to deploy the first 3 megawatts of its Isle of
Lewis site by early 2015, funding the facility in stages with a
combination of private equity, public grants and possibly debt.
While wave and tidal energy has the potential to meet as
much as 20 percent of Britain’s current electricity demand, no
commercial-scale projects are now operating. Scotland may be
able to provide 25 percent of Europe’s tidal power and 10
percent of its wave power, according to the government.
Aquamarine is working with SSE Plc, the second-biggest U.k.
energy supplier, on a 200-megawatt farm off Orkney and is also
interested in France, Ireland, Chile and the U.S., McAdam said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
