A developer of a tidal energy device is looking for new investment to move closer to commercial sales.
Scotrenewables Tidal Power has hired the investment bank Simmons & Company International to help explore financing options. The company did not say how much it is looking to raise.
Its tidal turbine, the SR2000, has been tested at the European Marine Energy Centre on Orkney over the past year. The trial has supplied up to 25 per cent of the electricity on the island for short periods. The device has recently been generating more than 20 megawatt hours per day.
Scotrenewables wants to take the technology to market and deliver the first group of devices, known as arrays, that can be deployed commercially.
Andrew Scott, the chief executive, 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.”
Shareholders in Scotrenewables include ABB, DP Energy, Fred Olsen and Total. It raised about $12 million in 2013 for development of the SR2000.
Scotrenewables, which employs 26 staff in Edinburgh and Orkney, has been developing tidal power technology since the company was formed in 2002. The current SR2000 is believed to be the world’s largest operational tidal turbine. It was launched from the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast in May last year.
The company has received support from Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish government in the past. More recently it has secured £7 million of European Commission funding.
Separately, a new report from Renewable UK has suggested Scotland has more than 7.6 gigawatts of potential offshore wind capacity in the pipeline.
Researchers said there are 15 projects with consent or being built. They could power about 6.3 million homes.
