Scottish start-up Mocean Energy has raised £850,000 for a new technology to bring wave power to subsea oil and gas.
The Edinburgh firm’s Blue Star wave machine is aimed at providing low-carbon power to subsea tieback developments and future fleets of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV).
Mocean raised £612,000 in equity seed funding plus £250,000 from Innovate UK, a public body for research and innovation.
The firm already carried out a pilot project with the OGTC, Chrysaor and EC-OG earlier this year to study the potential of their technology to power a subsea battery and a AUV.
A full prototype test is planned in Orkney early next year.
Managing director Cameron McNatt said: “Blue Star has been created from first principles to operate autonomously in remote locations and deliver green energy for a range of applications – including scientific ocean monitoring, aquaculture, oil and gas, and delivering energy to remote communities.
“We are currently working with firms in the Scottish supply chain to build and deliver our first prototype, which will commence testing at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney next year.”
© Peter Dibdin/ Mocean EnergyMocean has formed a 12-strong team to design the Blue Star machine using numerical modelling and AI-optimisation.
Last year, Mocean Energy secured £3.3 million from Wave Energy Scotland to build and test a half-scale version of their technology at sea, which is being completed at AJS Fabrication at Cowdenbeath in Fife.
It comes amid a broad focus on integrating oil and gas production with low-carbon solutions in order to cut emissions.
The equity seed funding includes investment by private group Equity Gap, Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund, and the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.
Fraser Lusty, director at Equity Gap, said “Mocean Energy has an exciting technology backed by some very sound science and ideally placed to help the oil and gas sector decarbonise its operations, with other worldwide applications to follow.
“This funding allows them to broaden their team and seek well-aligned commercial partners who can bring offshore experience to accelerate their ambitious plans.”
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