Edinburgh tidal energy firm goes bust in wake of failed Canadian arm

Graeme Bain, pictured, and Donald McNaught, of accountancy and business advisory firm Johnston Carmichael, have been appointed as joint administrators of Sustainable Marine Energy (SME). Picture: Ross Johnston/Newsline Media

An Edinburgh-based developer of tidal energy systems has gone bust in the wake of a failed Canadian subsidiary.

Graeme Bain and Donald McNaught, of accountancy and business advisory firm Johnston Carmichael, have been appointed as joint administrators of Sustainable Marine Energy (SME). A “small number” of jobs are said to have been lost as a result of the company having ceased to trade.

The marine renewables specialist was founded in 2012 to deliver “clean, reliable and predictable” tidal energy, mainly for island and coastal communities. Last year its Canadian subsidiary was successful in harnessing tidal currents in the country’s Bay of Fundy, in Nova Scotia, using its innovative, floating tidal platform. It was the first time floating in-stream tidal power had been provided to Nova Scotia’s grid.

The company’s tidal energy platforms had six turbines mounted on the stern, which were driven by the flow of water, to produce electricity. However, in May this year the Canadian subsidiary was placed into an insolvency process due to permitting issues with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), resulting in the suspension of its operations in the country. The Edinburgh-based business has also now been placed into administration.

Bain, restructuring director at Johnston Carmichael, said: “SME has been a leading developer of tidal energy solutions for several years and had demonstrated the value of that development through the successful implementation of its innovative PLAT-I platform in Canada. The difficult decision was made by the UK-based company to enter administration due to the impact caused by the recent insolvency of its Canadian subsidiary in May.

“In conjunction with our energy, infrastructure and sustainability team of sector experts, an assessment of the potential future viability of the current Canadian project will be undertaken and, with the potential for the application of its technology in other parts of the world, interest will also be sought for the company’s intellectual property in due course.”

A report published last month by the Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh outlined the importance of providing targeted policy and financial support for innovation programmes and their role in lowering the overall costs associated with delivering a successful wave and tidal stream sector in the UK.