Further development of Neptune, Aquamarine Power’s tidal stream device will cease with immediate effect, according to a statement issued by the Edinburgh based company this afternoon (1st April). The company said that following a strategic review of the business, it had decided to focus its efforts on the  development and commercialisation of its wave energy technology the Oyster® Wave Energy Converter.  

Nevertheless, Aquamarine stressed that the design and intellectual property created as part of the Neptune project will continue to be part of its product pipeline and that it will continue to develop tidal sites on a technology "neutral" basis with utility partners.

Martin McAdam, Chief Executive of Aquamarine commented: "Aquamarine’s mission is "Making Renewable Energy Mainstream" and we believe that Oyster with its ingenious yet simple design has the ability to achieve this. We have developed a clear path for the business, engineering, commercial and site development activities which will ensure the success of Oyster® and enable us to deliver a profitable system to our customers.  The decision to stop any further work on Neptune is the right decision for us. We will deploy our engineering team on making Oyster commercial in the shortest possible timeframe."

Martin McAdam added: "We are a multiple technology company. At this stage in our development it makes sense to focus on what will deliver the best commercial device and the best shareholder value."

According to the company this approach will enable it to accelerate its timetable for commercialisation of Oyster.  Aquamarine already has the key building blocks in place to do this and has contracts in place with Fugro Seacore to commence its installation at the European Marine Energy Centre in the summer and with Airtricity, the renewable energy division of Scottish and Southern Energy to develop sites capable of hosting 1,000MW of marine energy by 2020.