WITT Energy, a Plymouth-based company developing the technology that converts motional energy into electricity with potential application as a wave energy converter, has named James Burnell-Nugent as the company’s Chairman.
Burnell-Nugent is the former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy.
He currently holds a number of non-executive roles, including NED of QinetiQ, Chairman of Plymouth Laboratory, Chairman of Plymouth Marine Laboratories, Maritime Security Advisor to Shell, Senior Advisor at Evercore and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Risk Intelligence.
On his appointment James Burnell-Nugent said: “There is movement all around us and being able to convert energy from that movement into usable electric power is a truly groundbreaking development. The constant movement of the sea means that WITT’s pioneering technology has immediate applications in the maritime sector and WITT has secured global support to bring this technology to market.”
Contained within a sealed unit, WITT’s technology utilizes a 3D pendulum which drives the transmission system, converting all motion, in any combination of the six degrees of freedom, into a single unidirectional rotation of a flywheel, to produce electricity, according to WITT Energy.
WITT Energy secured grant funding from Innovate UK Energy Catalyst early in 2015 to conduct a feasibility study assessing capability of the WITT wave energy converter to generate MW of offshore power at a competitive Levelised Cost Of Energy (LCOE).
The partners of the project include RS Components, Schaeffler, Ricardo, Gibbs Gears, Mojo Maritime, DNV GL, The Offshore Renewable Energy Catalyst and the Universities of Plymouth, Bristol and Southampton.