Press Release: Scotrenewables Tidal Power Kicks Off New Funding Round
Scotrenewables Tidal Power, the developer of the largest and most powerful tidal current turbine in the world, its 2MW floating SR2000, is embarking on a new funding round to take forward its tidal technology towards commercialisation. It has appointed financial advisors Simmons & Company International, the energy specialists of US Investment Bank Piper Jaffray, to lead the investment process out of its Aberdeen office.
The move follows a successful test programme over the past 12months, culminating in the SR2000 producing more than 116 MWh in under a week of continuous generation at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Test Centre in Orkney. The grid-connected turbine supplied 7 % of Orkney’s electricity demand over this time with shorter periods where that contribution exceeded 25% of demand. In recent days, the SR2000 has been generating more than 20MWh per day, including 6MWh in a single tide. The testing programme at EMEC is supported via the FORESEA Interreg-NWE funded project.
Andrew Scott, CEO of Scotrenewables Tidal Power said:
“Given the significant progress we are making with our SR2000 floating tidal system, and our pipeline of projects in UK and overseas waters, we have appointed Simmons & Company International in Aberdeen to assist us with a funding round to secure new equity investment. This new investment will support the completion of our commercialisation programme and deliver our first commercial tidal arrays.”
Simmons & Company International is one of the largest and most experienced investment banking teams in the energy industry, offering M&A advisory, capital markets execution and investment research.
About Scotrenewables Tidal Power
Scotrenewables Tidal Power Limited is an innovative Scottish engineering company focused on the development of a tidal energy turbine technology with the potential to produce a step-change reduction in the cost of energy from tidal currents. The company’s novel floating technology offers a low cost solution for simplified and safe manufacture, installation, access and maintenance along with the ability to use low cost, small workboats for all offshore operations. The company currently employs 26 staff with offices in Orkney and Edinburgh.
The technology has been under continuous engineering development, including rigorous testing of scaled systems in both tank conditions and open ocean environments, since the company was founded in Orkney in 2002. In 2012 the company achieved a world’s first when it exported power to the UK grid from its 250kW floating scale model.
The current SR2000, the world’s largest operating tidal turbine, was launched from the Harland & Wolff shipyard, Belfast, in May 2016 before being towed to Orkney.
The SR2000 project has been supported by Scottish Enterprise’s WATERS II scheme along with investments from Scotrenewables’ shareholders which include ABB, DP Energy, Fred. Olsen, Total and Scottish Government via the Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF).
Scotrenewables has been selected by the European Commission to lead on the engineering and delivery of an enhanced model of the SR2000 machine. Leveraging £7m Horizon 2020 funding Scotrenewables will lead an industrial consortium to optimise the SR2000 under the “FloTEC” project which is scheduled to run until 2019.
SR2000 generating at EMEC Fall of Warness tidal test site (Credit Scotrenewables)
