Wave power specialists Mocean Energy has secured £730,000 ($978,000) of equity funding to accelerate the commercial roll-out of its wave energy storage technology.
The Edinburgh firm raised the cash through existing funders, led by angel syndicate Equity Gap, together with Old College Capital— the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund— and Scottish Enterprise.
The funds will enable Mocean to advance the design of its next-generation Blue Star wave machine and drive its adoption in subsea oil and gas applications that include autonomous underwater vehicles.
Last year, the firm successfully trialled its technology at sea at the European Wave Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
The company aims to build a 10 kW machine based around its Blue X design (pictured), which will begin commercial trails next year.
It is also developing a 20kW machine, which will include solar panels and a novel direct drive generator, with trials and rollout targeted for 2024-25.
Commenting on the new funds, Mocean Energy managing director Cameron McNatt said: “Both products are aimed at opportunities in the oil and gas energy transition, defence, offshore wind, and ocean science markets where they can be used to provide power to remote subsea equipment, robotics, and monitoring systems.”
The new funds follow an £862,000 ($1.1 million) seed raise which completed in 2020, comprising £612,000 ($820,000) equity funding plus a £250,000 ($335,000) grant from Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency.
Last year a consortium comprising Mocean Energy, Verlume, Harbour Energy and Baker Hughes with funding from NZTC developed a wave power and energy storage system for subsea operations.
This demonstrator project, called Renewables for Subsea Power, is showing how Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave machine can be coupled with underwater energy storage to provide reliably power to subsea CCS injection equipment, oil and gas production equipment and autonomous underwater vehicles.
The partners plan to test the system at sea later this year.