UK: Award for wave energy collaboration

After years of collaboration between Queen's University Belfast and renewable energy company Aquamarine Power, the Oyster wave energy converter has been named top innovation at the 2009 British Renewable Energy Awards.

The Oyster, now in its first stage of deployment at the European Marine Energy Centre off the coast of Scotland's Orkney Isles, uses the movement of passing near-shore waves to activate its oscillator, pumping high-pressure sea water through a pipeline to a seaside converter where it is made into hydroelectric power.

Aquamarine Power beat seven other nominees last month, winning the Innovator Award for the Oyster's outstanding concept and design, proven success and the ongoing effort of team members to bring the Oyster closer to commercialisation, an Aquamarine Power communiqué said.

In March, Aquamarine Power and a research team at Queen's University renewed a five-year agreement to continue working on the Oyster. The relationship is win-win, they say: while Aquamarine has access to the field's leading experts and their research, the university benefits from financial support and hands-on experience for its PhD students.

"When they write their theses, they don't just sit on a shelf," explained research team leader Professor Trevor Whittaker. "We're doing applied research that is benefiting humanity directly."

Although it could take up to two more years before Oyster is commercially viable, Aquamarine's Chief Technical Officer Dr Ronan Doherty said the UK Carbon Trust had estimated that up to 20% of current British electricity demand could be met by wave and tidal stream energy, with the majority being in coastal communities.

The Oyster One model is currently being deployed at Billia Croo in the Orkneys, north east of the Scottish mainland, while drilling is underway to attach it to the seabed.