Wave Energy Scotland (WES) has awarded a total of £1.4m funding for three projects developing novel structural materials and manufacturing concepts for generating devices.
Arup was awarded £375,564 to explore the potential of precast reinforced concrete to reduce the cost of wave devices.
Other WES CREATE project partners (Concrete as a Technology Enabler) include the University of Dundee, Cruz Atcheson, Carnegie Clean Energy, MPA British Precast and Mocean Energy.
Swedish developer CorPower Ocean was awarded £399,900 for the HydroComp project, which will assess the viability of polyester/E-Glass with Balmoral Comtec and Wave Venture.
The final project led by Tension Technology International, Netbuoy 2, was awarded £396,664 to research new materials for flexible wave device structures such as impermeable coated fabrics.
The other Netbuoy 2 project participants are the University of Strathclyde, Optimus, Black & Veatch and Quoceant.
Each of the three so-called stage two projects will take place over the next nine months.
WES director Tim Hurst said: “The projects will make a significant contribution to knowledge of materials best suited to manufacturing wave energy converters and will take the sector closer to developing a winning solution for wave energy.”
Scottish energy minister Paul Wheelhouse added: “WES continues to lead the development of new wave energy technologies with the funding of these three projects.”
Image: Billia Croo wave test site in Orkney (Aquatera)
Scots splash wave concepts cash
By EBS