Alstom has inceased its investment in marine energy by acquiring a 40% equity share in Scottish renewable energy company AWS Ocean Energy. It is the company's first stake in the wave energy market. Alstom will be a shareholder alongside Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1 and Scottish Investment Bank.
The move complements the existing activities of Alstom’s Ocean Energy business in Nantes, France, where the company is developing its 1 MW commercial scale tidal turbine prototype, the BELUGA 9. Wave energy is believed to have the greatest potential of all existing marine technologies with a worldwide resource estimated between 200 and 300 GW.
Created in 2004, AWS Ocean Energy is currently focusing on the development and delivery of its AWS-III wave energy converter, a floating device with a rated power output of 2.5MW. Support from the Scottish Enterprise-administered WATERS fund (Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support) enabled a 1:9 scale model of the AWS-III to be tested in Loch Ness in 2010. The AWS-III system is a 12 sided floating device. The vertical motion of the waves forces air back and forth through a number of air turbines installed inside the machine.
Philippe Cochet, Senior Vice President Hydro & Wind, Alstom, said “We are extremely excited about entering the wave energy market at this pivotal time. Our engagement with AWS today forms an important part of the strategic development of our recently created business activity, Alstom Ocean.”
Welcoming this investment, Simon Grey, CEO AWS Ocean Energy, said “We are very pleased to work with Alstom to further develop the AWS-III technology: the investment is a significant step forward for AWS and for the wave energy sector as a whole. Their support, and that of the Scottish government, is both an endorsement of what we have achieved so far and a major source of motivation to continue developing this technology.”
Scotland is at the forefront of marine energy development, creating the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney in 2003, and with over 1.6 GW of leases already awarded for tidal and wave projects in Scottish waters.
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