£1m contract to build Inverness firm's Archimedes Waveswing wave energy converter landed by Malin Renewables
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An Inverness firm has handed a £1 million contract to build its pioneering wave energy device to a Scottish company.
Malin Renewables will fabricate the half-scale Archimedes Waveswing power generation device, which is due to be tested in Orkney later this year.
The Waveswing, which has progressed through Wave Energy Scotland's stage-gate process to reach production and testing of a scale prototype – will be fabricated and assembled at Malin’s Westway Park site in Renfrew.
Inverness-headquartered AWS Ocean Energy has been developing the wave energy converter with funding from Wave Energy Scotland through its Novel Wave Energy Converter programme.
It has an existing relationship with the wider Malin Group, which is set to continue in the future through the development of the Scottish Marine Technology Park (SMTP).
The SMTP, the first of its kind in Europe, will be developed on the upper Clyde at Old Kilpatrick and aims to be a centre of excellence for the marine industry, creating 1000 jobs.
It will feature a large fabrication facility and a deep-water jetty with an 1100-tonne ship hoist – the largest of its kind in Scotland – which will be required to support the commercialisation of wave energy technology of this scale.
Simon Grey, chief executive of AWS Ocean Energy, said: “We are delighted to have appointed Malin for this critical contract. We are really excited by the opportunity presented by Malin’s Marine Technology Park and look forward to seeing future generations of Waveswing built there.”
Malin says that work will begin immediately to create the first partial-scale converter, which will work to verify the concept to drive forward grid scale and micro grid scale variants.
Ben Sharples, director at Malin Marine, said: “We are thrilled to be working on this project with AWS, as it provides the opportunity to deliver a turnkey solution, building on our expertise in delivering complex, multi-faceted projects.
“This particular project enables the team to utilise their expertise in hydraulics, electrical power, air systems, pressure vessels and mooring, delivering an integral piece of equipment for the wave energy sector.”
Malin has previously completed fabrication projects for offshore wind farm development and the design and build of an offshore microgrid buoy for a tidal energy project.
