The fund is run and administered by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of a collaborative venture involving Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.  

However, Martin McAdam is on record that the company was looking for £17m investment in June to progress site development in parallel at Orkney, Ireland and Oregon.

WATERS funding comes hot on the heels of securing £6m funding in June following the unveiling of its Oyster 2 device to be built in Scotland later this year. This new, next generation 800kW device will deliver 250% more power than the original Oyster 1 with only a 50% increase in footprint.

Oyster 1 has been successfully undergoing sea trials at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney since November of last year and is connected to the National Grid.



The company will begin deployment of Oyster 2, which consists of three flaps linked to a single onshore 2.4 MW hydro-electric turbine at EMEC in Summer 2011. The proceeds of the fundraising will be used to fund the procurement programme and provide general working capital.

Earlier this year Aquamarine Power was one of six companies including Marine Current Turbines, Pelamis Wave Power, Atlantis Resources, Hammerfest Strom UK, and Voith Hydro sharing an award of £22m from Carbon Trust’s Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF) to support  Oyster 2 manufacture.

Martin McAdam, (right) CEO of Aquamarine Power comments: “The marine energy industry has the potential to provide huge economic benefit to Scotland and Scottish businesses, with the creation of skilled jobs, a global export market and a secure and clean domestic energy supply. At this early stage of the industry, funding initiatives like the WATERS scheme are vital to help deliver this for Scotland.

“We would like to express our sincere thanks to the WATERS partners for this funding and their wider support for our business.  The Scottish Government and enterprise agencies should be commended for their dedicated support of Scotland’s marine energy.

Paul Lewis, (left) MD, Sector & Commercialisation, at Scottish Enterprise commented: “The WATERS fund can generate real economic benefit for Scotland and Scottish businesses, as the five company grants being awarded today demonstrate. 

"Aquamarine Power’s Oyster demonstration is exactly the kind of innovative, cutting edge project that we hoped to support through the fund and I look forward to following the project’s progress.” 

The £15m WATERS scheme was designed to support construction and installation of pre-commercial full-scale wave and tidal stream device prototypes in Scottish waters.