Rivtide Power has been awarded a £100,000 SMART: SCOTLAND feasibility study grant by Scottish Enterprise to develop a Mark 2 prototype of its Mass of Water Turbine (MOWT).
The system is a hydrokinetic turbine that effectively generates power from slow-flowing water such as rivers, tidal estuaries and ocean currents.
The patent0protected technology is entirely scalable from low kilowatts to multi-megawatts said the company, a subsidiary of MWNW Consulting.
An initial prototype of MOWT was deployed in 2021, followed by computational modelling and verification which has led to the design of the Mark 2 system.
The SMART: SCOTLAND project will give Rivtide the opportunity to fully develop, manufacture and deploy the Mark 2 prototype in a marine environment and prove the feasibility of the turbine system by generating electricity from slow flowing water it said.
The firm also plans to secure further private investment, with discussions ongoing with a number of interested parties.
A Marine Scotland study estimated that Scottish waters hold 25% of Europe’s tidal energy resource and therefore has the potential to significantly contribute to Scotland’s future energy requirements.
“We are delighted to have secured this substantial grant from Scottish Enterprise,” said chairman of MWNW Consulting Mike Wilson.
“It is a great achievement for our team to have our technology recognised in this way by Scottish Enterprise and we are very much looking forward to building and deploying our turbine during this project.”
“The system we will deploy through this feasibility project is relatively small scale in terms of power output but there are many applications for this scale of turbine.
“From providing reliable power to a riverside business, to providing predictable renewable power to offshore assets, to producing green hydrogen, MOWT has many uses. We have also computationally verified the scalability of the system so we are confident that it will also work on a larger scale.
“We believe MOWT is a complementary technology to other tidal turbine systems as MOWT has been designed to harness energy effectively from areas of slow flowing water, whereas other turbines are designed for faster flowing water.
“Scotland has such a rich tidal resource, and we believe that together with other developers, Rivtide Power and our MOWT system can be part of the solution to ensuring that Scotland meets its net zero targets.
“Looking into the future, we believe that our technology has the potential to power microgrid systems for isolated and island communities and be exported globally. This SMART: SCOTLAND feasibility project is the next step in our journey.”
Managing director of business growth at Scottish Enterprise Rhona Allison added: “Rivtide Power’s prototype MOWT technology is a great example of the type of innovative project SMART: SCOTLAND feasibility grants were designed to support.
“With its ambitions to promote greater use of renewable electricity from slow-flowing water, generate green hydrogen, scale up for larger production and target energy export markets, Rivtide has the potential to play an important part in Scotland’s net zero transformation.”