Wave Energy Scotland


Wave Energy Scotland is a technology development body set up by the Scottish Government to facilitate the development of wave energy in Scotland. It was set up in 2015 and is a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise based in Inverness. WES manages a number of projects resulting from its pre-commercial procurement funding calls.

Inception

The Scottish Government took positive action to support the ailing wave energy sector in Scotland, following the demise of one of the leading developers Pelamis Wave Power. The Energy Minister Fergus Ewing announced an initial budget for the body of £14.3 million over 13 months at the RenewableUK conference in February 2015

Organisation objectives

The original objectives for WES were set out by the Scottish Government as:
To date, WES has held four funding calls,.
Call TitleLaunch DateCall ClosedBudgetNotice
Secondary energy conversion technologies 19 March 201522 May 2015£7m
Novel wave energy converters10 June 201513 August 2015up to £2.4m
Structural materials and manufacturing processes 18 July 201615 July 20168 September 2016up to £3m
Control systems5 April 201712 June 2017£660k

Power Take-off

A total of 42 applications were made for this £7m call, with contracts awarded to nine consortia.
Project nameLead organisationOther partnersContract value
Advanced Hydraulic-electric Power Take Off Nova Innovation LtdAquamarine Power, Siemens£89,929
Direct contact dielectric elastomer PTO for submerged wave energy convertersScuola Superiore di Studi Uniersitari e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna University of Edinburgh, Universita di Bologna£96,000
Edinburgh Designs Adaptive Power Take Off Edinburgh Designs-£78,090
New Electric Automotive Power Extraction Device Marine Design International 4c Design£79,400
Power Electronic Controlled Magnet Gear Ecosse Subsea SystemsBathwick Electrical Design Ltd, Pure Marine Ltd, Supply Design Ltd.£100,000
Power Sharing Transmission based Bi-directional to Uni-directional PTO Cofely FabricomGhent University£99,990
Survivable and Efficient OLeo-hydraulic assisted power TAke-off TECNALIA Research & InnovationOCEANTEC Energías Marinas S.L.£87,271
Wave Energy Transmission ModuleRomax Technology LtdSea Power Ltd, Limerick Wave & Pure Marine Gen£100,000
'WEC-Direct' - The application of a direct drive, contra-rotating generator to wave energy convertersEnergy Systems Research Unit, University of StrathclydeNautricity Ltd£99,128

Novel Wave Energy Converter Call (stage 1)

Eight projects were funded for the first stage of the Novel Wave Energy Converter call, out of 37 applications.
Project NameLead OrganisationOther PartnersContract Value
Attenuator Cost of Energy Reduction 4C EngineeringSea Power Ltd£300,000
WaveTrain Sloped Pneumatic WECJoules Energy Efficiency Services Ltd-£291,039
WaveNET Series 12Albatern Ltd-£259,867
Mocean Wave Energy ConverterMocean Energy LtdThe University of Edinburgh£299,491
CCell Mark 3 – Novel Curved WEC OptimisationZyba LimitedThe University of Bath£252,024.88
AISV - Automatically Inflatable and Stowable Volume for step reduction in WEC cost of energyQuoceant Ltd-£300,000
Anaconda Novel Wave Energy ConverterCheckmate Seaenergy Ltd-£271,012
Advanced Archimedes WaveswingAWS Ocean Energy Ltd-£284,853

Structural Materials and Manufacturing Processes Call (stage 1)

Ten projects were funded from this third Innovation Call
Project NameLead OrganisationOther PartnersContract Value
HydrocompCorPower OceanBalmoral Offshore Engineering, Wave Venture£248,600
Reinforced polymers for Wave EneRgyCruz Acheson Consulting Engineers LdaCarnegie Wave Energy, CorPower Ocean, Arup Consulting Engineers, DNV-GL, National Composites Centre£249,614
Advanced Rotational Moulding for Ocean Renewables Haydale Composite Solutions LtdCrompton Moulding Ltd., Wave Venture, Carbon Trust£249,762
Concrete as a Technology Enabler Ove Arup & PartnersCruz Atcheson Consulting Engineers, MPA: The Concrete Centre, MPA British precast, SeaPower Ltd., Wello OY£250,000
Advanced Rotational Moulding for Wave Energy Technologies Polygen Ltd.Wave Venture, Rototek Ltd.£209,000
Advanced Concrete Engineering - WEC Quoceant Ltd.University of Dundee, Black and Veatch, Innosea, David Kerr£245,231
PolyshellTechnology from Ideas ltd.DuPont, Cruz Atcheson Consulting Engineers, Radius Systenms£244,500
NetbuoyTension Technology International Ltd.Black and Veatch Ltd., Optimus Ltd., Quoceant Ltd.£245,300
ELASTO ( A feasibility Study on Elastomeric-based WECs.University of EdinburghUniversity of Plymouth, Griffon Hoverwork£244,714
Rotational Moulding of Polymers, Composites and Hybrid WEC StructuresUniversity of EdinburghQueens University Belfast, Pelagic Innovation, CETO UK, Eire Composites, Kingspan Environmental£250,000

Control Systems

Thirteen concepts were funded from this fourth Innovation Call.
Project NameOther PartnersContract Value
SURF-MATICWave Venture, Mocean Energy Ltd., Altran Ltd., CorPower Ocean AB£48,860
Predictability Bounded Control of the Mocean WECMocean Energy Ltd., University of Bath£34,434
WEETICSUniversity of Edinburgh, Oceantec Energias Marinas SL, Tecnalia Research and Innovation£45,000
Adaptive Control of the WaveSub WEC using a Romax electromechanical PTOMarine Power Systems Ltd., University of Bath, Romax Technology Ltd.£41,850
DataWaveMocean Energy Ltd., Wave Venture, CorPower Ocean AB, Polygen Ltd., MarynSol Ltd£46,200
WEQUAD FRAME ProjectINNOSEA Ltd., EPF Elettrotecnica Srl£41690
Cost of Energy Optimised by Reinforcement Learning Maxsim Ltd., Caelulum Ltd., Aquaharmonics Inc, Wave Conundrums Consulting, David Forehand, David Pizer, Mocean Energy Ltd, CorPower Ocean AB£46,926
Control of WECs based on dielectric elastomer generatorsUniversity of Edinburgh, Cheros Srl, University of Bologna, University of Trento£47,000
Non-linear Optimal Control: Concepts, Practicalities and BenefitsMocean Energy ltd., Pelagic Innovation Ltd., Industrial Systems and Control Ltd.£47,000
Adaptive hierarchical model predictive control of wave energy convertersMocean Energy Ltd, Queen Mary University of London£28,209
ForewaveInnosea Ltd., Politecnico di Torino, Wave for Energy Srl, Industrial Systems and control Ltd.£37,600
IMPACT Integrated Marine Point Absorber Control ToolSgurrControl Ltd., Cruz Atcheson Consulting Engineers£47,000
Wave Energy Advanced Control System CPower Alba Ltd., SgurrControl Ltd., Wave Venture.£46,900

Stage Gate Selections

Intellectual Property

WES has acquired intellectual property developed by the now defunct companies Pelamis Wave Power and Aquamarine Power. The former as part of the inception of Wave Energy Scotland, whilst the latter was completed in September 2016.

Annual Conference

The first Wave Energy Scotland annual conference was held on 2 December 2016 at Pollock Halls in Edinburgh This provided an update of ongoing and future calls, plus quick-fire updates from participants ongoing PTO and NWEC calls.
A second annual conference was held on 28 November 2017.
The third annual conference was held on 6 December 2018 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre