Innovate UK backs wave powered micro-grid project for Thailand

Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, has provided £297,000 in grant funding for Eco Wave Power Gibraltar-led project to develop a wave powered micro-grid system that will eventually be tested on the islands of Thailand.

The grant is provided as part of the Energy Catalyst Round 8: clean energy – experimental development competition, for a project titled ‘Sea Wave Energy Powered Microgrid for Remote Islands and Rural Coasts’.

Eco Wave Power Gibraltar, a subsidiary of Sweidish-Israeli wave energy company Eco Wave Power, will develop the project in collaboration with the UK Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) of Thailand.

The approximately £297,000 grant budget will be used by the parties for the performance of feasibility studies and joint research and design of a wave powered micro-grid system with the intent of testing the innovative solution on certain islands in Thailand in the future.

The grant funding will be divided among the project partners in accordance with each party’s contribution to the project.

Eco Wave Power will be granted £104,000, and will also contribute additional £45,000 making the total budget for Eco Wave Power’s activity close to £150,000.

The Grant Offer Letter will be signed between the parties subject to a finance review and submission of additional documentation, the project developers said.

Inna Braverman, founder and CEO of Eco Wave Power, said: “We see this as a strong vote of confidence in Eco Wave Power and our pioneering technology and look forward to a productive collaboration with the team from QMUL, AIT, and the PEA of Thailand.

“We are extremely grateful to Innovate UK for such grant, as this project presents a unique opportunity for us to research a new technology application for our wave energy converter, customized for islands and other micro-grid applications, which are a significant target market for Eco Wave Power”.

Guang Li and Kamyar Mehran, researchers at QMUL, said: “We are grateful for Innovate UK’s vote of confidence and are very excited to commence the collaboration with Eco Wave Power, AIT and PEA of Thailand. We believe that our collaboration will yield significant knowledge and scientific progress, which shall contribute to the commercialization of wave energy in islands and lead to additional micro-grid applications”.

Earlier in June, Eco Wave Power secured a grant from the Wohl Clean Growth Alliance to work with QMUL on further advancement of its wave energy technology.

The grant will be used to promote and facilitate the establishment of a long-term research collaboration between researchers Guang Li and Kamyar Mehran and Eco Wave Power’s engineering team.