SCOTTISH wave energy company, AWS Ocean Energy, has secured a £2 million investment from Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Co-investment Fund and the Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1 B.V. (‘STVF1′), an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell.
Says a spokesperson: “This is the first-ever investment in AWS Ocean Energy made by Scottish Enterprise whilst it is AWS Ocean’s second tranche of investment from the STVF1, which is managed by Kenda Capital B.V..
“The new investment enables AWS Ocean to take forward its plans to develop and deploy its wave power technology as well as help the company in its work to design associated technologies, such as mooring systems, for wider use in the wave and tidal energy sectors.
“The new investment follows a review of the company’s technology which has resulted in significant improvements to the system now known as the AWS-III. The design builds on extensive research including offshore testing and detailed modelling of the AWS technology. The improved system will have a generating capacity of between 2.4 and 4MW.”
Simon Grey, chief executive of AWS Ocean Energy, said: “We are delighted to announce this investment by STVF1 and Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Co-investment Fund as they vindicate our thorough and measured approach to development.
“STVF1/Kenda are very hands-on and we have benefited enormously from their experience in technology investment on challenging projects.
“Not only did they challenge our engineering approach but they also required the AWS-III to demonstrate the potential to compete cost-effectively with offshore wind before agreeing to invest further. It is not sufficient to produce a machine that works – we need to produce a machine that can generate electricity at a competitive cost.”
Aruna Subramanian, investment principal at Kenda Capital B.V. said: “Drawing on our understanding of offshore engineering and new technology challenges, we are excited by the latest development of AWS Ocean’s wave energy system.
“We are confident that the team at AWS Ocean, aided by their Technical Advisory Committee, who all have extensive and relevant experience in this sector and in technology development, will successfully address the major challenges faced in harnessing energy from the waves at a commercially viable cost.
Andrew Sloane, senior investment manager at Scottish Enterprise, said: “This is an exciting investment for Scottish Enterprise, not only because the company is at the vanguard of wave power technology, but also because it marks our first venture with new investment partner Kenda Capital.
“Going forward, we hope our partnership with Kenda Capital will provide other companies in the already strong Scottish renewables sector with the risk capital required to grow and take advantage of new markets.”
Commenting on the cost of wave power, AWS Ocean’s Simon Grey said: “One of the key drivers behind our review was the cost of energy and the ability to contribute to the Government’s 2020 renewable energy targets. Making sure our customers can make adequate returns from AWS wave power on current tariffs is essential. Also essential is the ability to achieve rapid roll-out and the large scale of AWS-III contributes to both of these.
“Delivering the complete solution will take time. We are already in discussions with partners to ensure that AWS-III is available as a demonstrated commercial product by 2014. Industrial multinationals will be prepared to fund ‘big ticket’ demonstration projects providing that the technology is proven first and so our focus is to do just that: delivering proven technology that actually works.”
AWS Ocean Energy is presently undertaking component and sub-system testing and qualification and is aiming to deploy a full-system prototype AWS-III during 2011.
The company is confident that this will lead to deployment of a pre-commercial demonstrator plant during 2013.
Throughout this process, the AWS Ocean team will draw on the advice and support of the company’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) which was established following STVF1’s first investment in 2008 (see Notes to Editors).
Notes to Editors
1. AWS Ocean Energy (www.awsocean.com) was established in 2004. The company is chaired by John Anderson, the chief executive officer of Entrepreneurial Exchange.
2. The company’s board and executive management team are advised by a Technical Advisory Committee comprising:
Dr Bruce Storm (formerly of Halliburton and a R&D physicist) Professor Antonio Sarmento (IST Lisbon, head of Portugal’s Wave Energy Centre) Dr Tom Thorpe (wave energy specialist) Andrew Mill (chief executive, NaREC and former managing director of EMEC) Captain Peter Hodgetts (managing director of SeaRoc, marine engineering specialists)
3. Kenda Capital B.V. (www.kendacapital.com) is the independently owned manager of STVF1 which made its first investment in AWS Ocean Energy in February 2008. Kenda Capital B.V. and STVF1 maintain a unique technology relationship with Shell. Major investors in STVF1 are Shell, Coller Capital and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. STVF1 also has proprietary access to oil and gas field operations and wells in order to test, prove and demonstrate combinations of new technologies. STVF1 is an unique, large scale investment fund focused at reducing the cost of energy by accelerating the development and deployment of new technologies. Kenda and STVF1 possess a solid energy sector expertise, fostered through its technology relationship with the Shell Group.
4. The Scottish Co-investment Fund is a £72 million equity investment fund established by Scottish Enterprise, and partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund, to invest from £100,000 to £1 million in company finance deals of up to £2 million.
For further information
AWS Ocean Energy (www.awsocean.com)
UK/international media enquiries:
Paul Taylor of Taylor Keogh Communications: + 44 20 3170 8465 / paul@taylorkeogh.com or Scottish media enquiries:
David Budge of Budge PR: 0141 553 1115 / david.budge@budgepr.com
Scottish Enterprise
Andrew Sloane: +44 (0) 141 228 2787 / andrew.sloane@scotent.co.uk
Kenda Capital B.V.
Aruna Subramanian: +31 (0)70 413 4040 / info@kendacapital.com
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