Mocean Energy lands funds to build wave energy device for oil and gas sector

Scottish company Mocean Energy has secured €875,000 to accelerate the commercial roll-out of its wave energy technology and drive its adoption in offshore oil and gas sector.

Mocean Energy has raised a little over €875,000 equity funding from existing funders, led by angel syndicate Equity Gap, together with Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund, and Scottish Enterprise.

The new funds will enable the company to advance the design of its next-generation Blue Star wave machine and drive its adoption in subsea oil and gas, Mocean Energy said.

Last year, the company successfully trialed its Blue X prototype at sea at the European Wave Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, and is currently collaborating with partners to advance a demonstrator project, called ‘Renewables for Subsea Power’.

The project is expected to show how Mocean Energy’s technology can be coupled with underwater energy storage to provide reliable low carbon power to subsea equipment and autonomous underwater vehicles. According to Mocean Energy, the plans are in place to test the system at sea later in 2022.

Commenting on the new funds, Mocean Energy’s managing director Cameron McNatt said: “The equity funding is a tremendous boost and will allow us to accelerate our product roll out.

“This year we’ll start fabricating Blue Star 10 – a 10kW machine based around the Blue X design which will begin commercial trails in 2023.

“In parallel we are developing our next-generation Blue Star 20, a 20kW machine based on a new optimized geometry, which will include solar panels and a novel direct drive generator, with trials and rollout targeted for 2024-25. 

“Both products are aimed at opportunities in the oil and gas energy transition, defense, offshore wind, and ocean science markets where they can be used to provide power to remote subsea equipment, robotics, and monitoring systems.”

Mocean Energy has seen increasing interest from the oil and gas sector and has opened a dedicated office in Aberdeen to meet customer demand, while the firm’s staff has grown to 17.

The new funds follow a €1.03 million seed raise which was completed in 2020, comprising €735,000 equity funding plus €300,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency.

Kerry Sharp, director of growth investments at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Bold and ambitious low-carbon technology companies like Mocean Energy are fundamental to Scotland’s just transition to a net-zero emission economy.

“Scottish Enterprise is pleased that our ongoing support to the team at Mocean is helping them to scale up and explore their international aspirations, and we hope this most recent investment will see Mocean move ever closer to fully commercializing their innovative wave power technology.”

To remind, last year, a consortium comprising Mocean Energy, Verlume, Harbour Energy and Baker Hughes with funding from Net Zero Technology Centre – formerly known as OGTC – invested €1.9 million into a program to develop a wave power and energy storage system for subsea operations.