Wave energy developer, Aquamarine Power, announced that it has successfully raised an additional £6 million of funding. This follows the recent unveiling of the design of its Oyster 2 device which will be built in Scotland later this year. The proceeds of the fundraising will be used to fund the procurement program and provide general working capital.

This new generation of the device has a capacity of 800 kilowatts (kW) and is expected to deliver 250 percent more power than the original Oyster 1 with only a 50 percent increase in footprint. Oyster 1 has been undergoing sea trials at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney since November of last year and is connected to the National Grid.

Aquamarine 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. Earlier this year Aquamarine Power secured an award from the Carbon Trust’s Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF) to support the manufacture of Oyster 2.

In partnership with SSE Renewables, the company has already been successful in the Crown Estate leasing round, securing exclusive rights to develop the 200-megawatt (MW) Brough Head wave farm. This joint venture is the first site development within the agreement with SSE Renewables to jointly develop up to 1,000 MW of marine energy sites by 2020 using Oyster technology.

“Aquamarine Power has made substantial progress over the last 12 months. Our current Oyster device has performed well during sea trials surviving the harshest winter seas off the coast of Orkney and the data we have gathered from it has enabled us to design a much more powerful Oyster 2," said Martin McAdam, CEO of Aquamarine Power. “As an emerging industry, marine energy has a substantial funding requirement and the financial support of investors and the UK and Scottish Governments is paramount to its success."