Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond MSP today unveiled the Oyster 800 from wave energy developer Aquamarine Power, the company's next-generation hydro-electric wave energy converter.

At a ceremony at Burntisland Fabrications' yard at Methil, Fife, the First Minister welcomed the advancements in wave energy conversion being made by Aquamarine Power and unveiled the 800kW device. It will now be transported by sea from the Firth of Forth to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney for installation later this summer.

The project has been supported through grant funding awarded by Scottish Enterprise and the Carbon Trust Marine Renewables Proving Fund.

Improved power output

Aquamarine Power installed and grid-connected its first full-scale 315kW Oyster at EMEC in 2009. This first device operated through two winters and delivered over 6000 operating hours.

The Oyster 800 operates in the same way as Oyster 1, but Aquamarine Power has used data and lessons learned from the first Oyster to significantly improve its power output, simplify installation and allow easier routine maintenance.

The device shape has been modified and made wider to enable it to capture more wave energy. It is now mounted on two seabed piles, rather than four to simplify installation. Oyster 800 has also been designed to make maintenance and operations easier and more cost effective.

The device was manufactured by Burntisland Fabrications at its Methil and Arnish yards. The Oyster 800 will be the first of three devices to be installed at EMEC, with further Oysters to be deployed in 2012 and 2013. All three Oysters will be linked to an onshore hydro-electric plant to form a 2.4MW array.

“Scotland is in the rapids of a renewables revolution”

Speaking at the unveiling, Scotland's First Minister Rt Hon. Alex Salmond MSP said:

"Today is a significant day for Aquamarine Power and for Scotland's wider offshore renewables sector, which continues to develop a wide range of low carbon energy technologies to enable us to fully harness the huge energy resources around our own coast and contribute to global efforts to expand clean, green electricity generation.

"Aquamarine Power has made huge progress in less than two years since its first Oyster device was connected to the grid at EMEC - proving the technology and driving down costs - a testament to the vision, commitment and expertise throughout the company. I'm delighted that the Scottish Government and our public sector partners have been able to support the progress of this exciting frontier technology.

"BiFab is another Scottish success story which, by successfully delivering the Oyster 800 device, has underlined once again the skills of its workforce and its capability to manufacture a wide and diverse range of fabrications for offshore energy developers. Scotland is in the rapids of a renewables revolution and the delivery of the new, more efficient and powerful Oyster 800 device represents a new surge towards the deployment of commercially competitive wave power arrays to deliver clean, green energy."

Martin McAdam, Chief Executive Officer of Aquamarine Power commented:

"The Oyster 800 is a significant advance on our first Oyster device. Our dedicated engineering and R&D teams have designed it to be simpler, more robust and more efficient. This means we can offer 250 per cent more power at a third of the cost.

"Our goal is to make future Oysters cost competitive within the next few years. The Oyster 800 will help us gather the data that we need to deliver on that.

Mr. McAdam said a farm of just 20 Oyster 800 devices would generate sufficient power for 15,000 homes and that marine energy would provide an essential part of Scotland's future low carbon energy mix.

UK could capture just under a quarter of global marine energy market

Dr Stephen Wyatt, Head of Technology Acceleration at The Carbon Trust, said:

"Our support to Aquamarine Power, via the MRPF and our Marine Energy Accelerator, has been instrumental in helping the development of this device being launched today.

"As a whole we believe the sector in the UK could capture just under a quarter of the global marine energy market.   Our new report launched this week shows that marine energy has a bright future and is one of the UK's most exciting green growth sectors and one where the UK has a real lead.

Wave and tidal sector could create over 68,000 jobs

Dr Wyatt continued:

"Wave and tidal stream could provide a fifth of our electricity needs and be a major 'made in Britain' success. Our new analysis has found that the best marine energy sites could be cost competitive with nuclear and onshore wind by 2025.   The wave and tidal sector could generate up to £76bn to the UK economy by 2050, and could also generate over 68,000 UK jobs.

"Key to unlocking this potential prize is continued support and innovation for the sector as it moves from a pre-commercial to commercial development stage."

A jack-up barge is currently stationed at EMEC's Billia Croo site, just north of Stromness, and has begun drilling piles into the seabed to provide foundations for Oyster.

The installation of the Oyster 800 will see the device being fixed to the seabed around 500 metres from the shore. This will be followed by a commissioning process which will see it connected to an onshore hydro-electric generator via subsea pipelines.