Edinburgh green power pioneer hails successful trial of giant wave energy prototype in Scottish waters

An Edinburgh-based green power pioneer has hailed a successful five-month trial of its huge wave energy prototype.

Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave machine, which stretches to 20 metres and weighs some 38 tonnes, has returned to dock after a test period at sea.

In the last few days the wave generator has been towed from the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) Scapa Flow test site to Kirkwall and has been lifted onto Hatston Pier. It will be cleaned, inspected, and maintained until next year’s testing programme commences.

The distinctive yellow wave machine began its test phase in mid-June and since then has completed 154 days at sea, delivering steady outputs of up to five kilowatts (kW) and safe instantaneous peaks of 30kW, and operating in sea states up to 2.3 metres maximum wave height.

Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave machine, which stretches to 20 metres and weighs 38 tonnes, was fabricated in Scotland.

Mocean Energy managing director Cameron McNatt said: “This has been an immensely valuable period where we have been able to understand how our machine operates in real sea conditions and gain practical experience in operations including towing, installation, removal, and access at sea.

“We’ve been able to unmoor, tow and moor the machine multiple times, trial the use of solar panels on deck, send commands from shore, test power production and compare our results against our numerical predictions.

“This has given us tremendous confidence in our design – both in its ability to capture wave energy effectively, and also the way in which it dives below the biggest waves, enabling it to shed the heaviest loads.”

Next year, the firm plans to put the device to sea in Orkney again and will connect it to a subsea battery which will be used to power a remotely operated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) – with potential applications for oil and gas offshore operators.

The deployment and demonstration of the Blue X at EMEC has been funded by Wave Energy Scotland (WES) and supported by Interreg North-West Europe’s Ocean Demo project.

Tim Hurst, managing director of Wave Energy Scotland, said: “It is only through testing technologies at sea that we can demonstrate the real potential for wave energy to make a significant contribution to the world’s ever-growing green energy demands.

“The success of Mocean Energy underscores the merits of Wave Energy Scotland’s stage gate selection process which has fostered a collaborative cross-industry approach from day one.

“In the years ahead, we will see Mocean Energy scale up its wave energy convertors to produce future technologies with potential to help decarbonise the oil and gas sector and deliver grid-scale electricity.

“At this moment, the UK government is actively considering implementing a ring-fenced market support mechanism for marine energy, which could enable Britain’s wave and tidal sector to take a global lead.

“Post-COP26, it is vital Britain puts a ring-fence in place and uses every lever it can to support home-grown technologies which can create a net zero future.”

The Blue X was fabricated in Scotland. The manufacture and testing programme has been supported by £3.3 million from WES through its Novel Wave Energy Converter programme.

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