The first phase of the deployment of Aquamarine's Oyster wave energy converter at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney has been completed, with the device being lowered onto its seabed subframe and bolted in place. The successful completion was announced today (12th August) by the company and is the precursor to connecting the Oyster to sub-sea pipelines which will deliver high pressure fresh water to an onshore turbine ahead of grid connection and sea trials later this year.

Commenting on the completion of the first phase of the installation Martin McAdam, Chief Executive Officer of Aquamarine Power, said: “Getting Oyster into the water and connected to the seabed was always going to be the most difficult step and its completion is a real credit to everyone who has worked hard on planning and executing this major engineering feat on schedule and without any complications.

“No one has deployed a nearshore wave device before so we had to plan every detail of the operation. We have a fantastic and experienced offshore team at Aquamarine Power but we could not have done this on our own, in total we have about 15 different companies working on this project, together with our main contractor Fugro Seacore. They have all done a great job.

Completion of this milestone is a giant leap for the company and for the marine energy industry in general. There will obviously be challenges ahead but we are now working on connecting the device to the grid ahead of offshore testing.

“Generating electricity, however, will be the ultimate test, and we are confident we will deliver power to the national grid by the end of the year.”

Oyster is designed to capture the energy found in nearshore waves up to depths of 10 to 12 metres. A commercial farm of just 20 devices (10MW) could provide clean renewable energy to a town of 6,500 homes.