Edinburgh University tech powers Scottish wave energy project

Mocean has secured 3.3m from Wave Energy Scotland (WES) to develop and build a scale prototype of its Blue Horizon wave machine. Picture: Contributed

Wave energy innovator Mocean Energy has selected technology developed by the University of Edinburgh to help power up its prototype.

In January, Mocean secured £3.3 million from Wave Energy Scotland (WES) to develop and build a scale prototype of its Blue Horizon wave machine which will be deployed in Orkney next year.

Now the Edinburgh start-up has chosen the university’s C-GEN technology to provide the power take-off system for its utility-scale demonstrator.

C-GEN is a novel direct-drive generator which is said to be highly efficient over a wide range of wave conditions. The university is also currently engaged with WES in a separate project to develop and demonstrate the technology.

The two teams will now build a test rig, which will be tested at a specialist facility in Rosyth.

Mocean Energy managing director Cameron McNatt said: “Our test programme will ensure we optimise the performance of both technologies.”