Kevin McLeod, engineering director (right) at BAE Systems’ Surface Ships division, said: “This is a great opportunity for us to apply skills developed in naval design and the management of large complex maritime engineering programmes to support the emerging marine energy industry.

“In working with Aquamarine Power as a partner, we are helping to pioneer commercial clean energy solutions that will help the UK meet its ambitious climate change targets.”

“The Oyster system works well,” says Aquamarine Power CEO, Martin McAdam. “Our next step is drive down the cost of electricity generated from wave power through improvements in Oyster reliability and reduced maintenance costs.

“BAE Systems is a fantastic company with extensive experience in marine systems performance modelling and analysis. Our companies are very different in size, but we share a passion for engineering excellence and a belief in the global potential of wave energy. We are grateful to the Technology Strategy Board for providing the grant funding which has enabled this collaboration to take place.”

Aquamarine Power’s Oyster technology is designed to be installed at around 10 metres depth, 0.5km from shore. Aquamarine Power has already installed and tested its Oyster 1 demonstration device at the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney, where it generates electricity  transmitted to the National Grid to power homes in the local area.

“By 2050 we are going to have very different energy needs than we  have today and we will be getting our energy from different sources," says (right)  Iain Gray, CEO of the Technology Strategy Board. "The UK is well placed to exploit wave and tidal stream energy resources with all of the coast line that we have, and it is expected this kind of technology will be an important part of the renewable energy mix needed in the future. "

“We still need to prove which technological solutions will most successfully harness marine energy and we need to reduce the cost of the energy produced to make the technology competitive with other renewable energy solutions. So there are a range of technological challenges to address.”

BAE Systems is already involved in a number of initiatives to support the renewable energy sector. The defence company actively works with the wind farm industry to resolve issues about their disruption to radars. Its engineers designed the electrical distribution system for the largest land based wind farm in Europe at Whitelee, and BAE Systems is also working with partners to develop an deepwater offshore windfarm design.