An €8 million grant, from the EU's technology research and development fund, will allow the Sheffield based company, Pulse Tidal, to begin work immediately on developing its first fully commercial tidal energy generator. The EU grant has been awarded to the team of Pulse and its seven supply chain partners to fund 50% of the development of Pulse's full-scale commercial generator. The remaining 50% will be provided by private investment. According to Pulse Tidal the 1MW generator, which the company currently has no location for, will be commissioned in 2012 and will provide electricity for up to 1,000 homes.

Alongside this finance, the company has signed contracts with a group of international companies to develop the commercial device and form a secure supply chain for volume production.  The project team brings together: Bosch Rexroth for hydraulics, Herbosch Kiere for installation, DNV for certification, IT Power for engineering, Niestern Sander for construction, the Fraunhofer IWES for control and electrical systems and Gurit for composites.

Pulse chief executive Bob Smith, says: "We have developed an economic way to recover predictable, renewable energy from the tides and are entering a young market predicted to be worth at least £6billion annually in electricity sales.

"The investment market has shown great excitement about our progress to date and I am delighted now to formalise the excellent relationship we have built up with our supply-chain partners. Combined with our own experienced staff this is a truly world-class team, which will deliver our low cost, low risk tidal power product to market in 2012.

"According to the latest industry figures, with offshore wind energy costing up to £0.14 per kWh to produce, the Pulse system is expected to match the cost of offshore wind after only 100MW has been installed. In the future tidal energy is set to surpass wind as the most economic and predictable source of offshore power."

Pulse had previously secured £2.7m through investment from Marubeni, IT Power, Life-IC and the Viking Fund, along with some individuals and government grants. Following a successful £765,000 funding round in 2009, the company is currently engaged in fundraising to match the EU grant.