Nova Innovation bags multi-million EU grant

Nova Innovation, an Edinburgh-based tidal energy developer, has secured €2.25 million through the European Commission under the second phase of Horizon 2020’s SME Instrument program.

The funding was granted for Nova Innovation’s D2T2 (Direct Drive Tidal Turbine) project, designed to produce a commercial demonstrator of Nova’s direct drive tidal turbine technology.

The D2T2 project, with a total expenditure of €3.2 million, will be carried out in Scotland, and will run for 30 months, Nova Innovation informed.

Simon Forrest, Managing Director of Nova Innovation, said: “We are extremely grateful to the team at the European Commission for their confidence in our technology and continued support following the successful delivery of Phase 1 of the project. We are looking forward to bringing this innovation to a commercial reality so that it can be exported throughout the world.”

Bernd Reichert, Head of Unit for the Horizon 2020’s SME Instrument program, added: “With the SME Instrument we are looking for an elite of highly innovative small and medium-sized businesses that can transform markets and create rapid growth. Nova Innovation is a great example of how SMEs can disrupt the market with an innovative idea and the right technology and we are proud to count Nova Innovation in our program.”

To remind, Nova Innovation installed and grid-connected the second tidal turbine back in August as part of the Shetland Tidal Array project.

Horizon 2020’s SME Instrument invests in highly innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with significant growth potential and global ambitions. In total, the program will invest €3 billion in 7500 companies until 2020.