Staff from a Scottish wave energy development firm which went into administration last week could now be given jobs at a new body set up to help develop renewable power from the ocean.
The formation of Wave Energy Scotland (WES) by the Scottish Government was announced the day after Pelamis Wave Power said it was going into administration (21 November).
WES’ aims are to foster industry collaboration to drive research and development, share learning and knowledge and bringing in expertise from other sectors, such as oil and gas, said the Scottish Government.
The new body comes as the wave and tidal sector is showing signs of strain. In addition to Pelamis' struggles, Siemens confirmed, earlier this week, that it was looking to divest its tidal energy business, Marine Current Turbines (MCT). Siemens bought Bristol, UK, based MCT, which has deployed demonstration scale SeaGen tidal turbine devices, in 2012 after increasing its stake in the company to 45% in 2011. It secured a lease to build three tidal stream projects from the Crown Estate in July this year. If a buyer cannot be found, the business unit could be restructured, Siemens has said.
Edinburgh-based Pelamis’s directors said they had been unable to secure the additional funding required for further development of the company's wave energy technology, dubbed the “sea snake,” (pictured). This meant the company had been forced to appoint an administrator to assess the options for securing the future for the business and its staff.
Pelamis founder and CEO Richard Yemm was awarded the Saltire Prize medal for his work in wave energy in 2012. Pelamis’ prototype devices have clocked up some 15,000 hours of real grid connected test data, at the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney, Scotland. But, efforts to seek a “strategic partner” to help commercialize the technology have failed.
A statement from the Scottish Government recognized the difficulties offshore renewable energy developers were facing. It said: “In recognition of the changing market conditions the sector is experiencing, this is a new approach to supporting the sector that will encourage knowledge sharing between developers and fosters greater standardization across the industry.
“One of the most important challenges for the wave sector is the lack of design convergence. The long-term success for wave energy will depend crucially on deeper collaboration between companies, reduced duplication and jointly addressing common technological challenges.
“Wave Energy Scotland’s first task will be to identify the optimal areas for research and development. These areas will be agreed in consultation with a range of stakeholders, including device developers, project developers, supply chain companies, academia and utilities.
“The approach will help maintain our position as a global leader in marine energy. It will build on Scotland’s valuable engineering and academic expertise, our existing testing infrastructure and the industry’s monumental achievements to date.”
Not all projects have suffered to the same degree. Atlantis Corporation signed a £51 million funding package for Phase 1 of the MeyGen tidal power project, offshore Scotland, this year. The construction phase on the project will start in the new year and it is due to start producing 6MW of electricity to the grid in 2016.
Speaking at Holyrood, Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: "I am aware that the employees of Pelamis are some of the most advanced in terms of the engineering solutions for the wave energy sector.
"Wave Energy Scotland will be able to provide opportunities for employment for some of those experts in the sector. It will not be possible for Wave Energy Scotland to employ the numbers on the scale of the head count at Pelamis. But we do hope to seek to retain the best brains in Scotland."
Blair Nimmo and Gary Fraser of KPMG were appointed as Joint Administrators of Pelamis Wave Power.
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