Harnessing the waves [wave power

Abstract

In 2012, an old portacabin was moved to Scotland's National Museum of Mining to provide a space for teaching children about renewable energy. But this wasn't any portacabin - it came from the University of Edinburgh and was ground zero for several wave power technology breakthroughs. Occupied by the team of Stephen Salter, pioneer of the 'duck' wave power converter, over a 30-year period, the portacabin spawned three companies. Together they contributed about £200m to the Scottish economy but have also shown the potential and pitfalls of a technology still looking to prove itself. Like the waves it's trying to harness, the industry has had its peaks and troughs. In the last 18 months, two big Scottish wave power companies have gone into administration - in November 2014 Pelamis Wave Power, which started in Salter's portacabin, and in October 2015 Aquamarine Power, whose `Oyster' device was being tested at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. was a hugely gutting process. It was 17 years and 750 person years of engineering effort, says Pelamis founder Richard Yemm of his company's failure. The Scottish government, however, has a plan to kick-start the industry and prevent it from becoming another technology lost to foreign competitors. In February 2015 it established a public innovation company, Wave Energy Scotland, investing £14.3m over a 13-month period including acquiring some Pelamis assets.