Alstom has taken a 40 per cent equity share in the Scottish renewable energy company AWS Ocean Energy, marking the French company’s entry into the wave energy market.

 

Alstom will be a shareholder alongside Shell Technology Ventures 1 and Scottish Investment Bank. AWS said it will immediately take on extra staff.

 

AWS Ocean Energy is currently focusing on the development and delivery of its AWS-III wave energy converter, a floating device with a rated power output of 2.5 MW.

 

A 1:9 scale model of the AWS-III was tested in Loch Ness in 2010. It plans to test a full-scale version in 2012.

 

Alstom said this move complements the existing activities of its Ocean Energy business in Nantes, France, where it is developing its 1 MW tidal turbine prototype, the Beluga 9.

 

Alex Salmond, Scottish First Minister, recently reiterated his government’s target to produce the equivalent of at least 100 per cent of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

 

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