Blow to Scottish renewables as Aquamarine to downsize

• 9 years ago (2014-12-04)
• Junior Isles

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Edinburgh-based company Aquamarine Power has launched a consultation process with staff about 'significantly downsizing' its business operation. The company, which has pioneered wave-power technology, looks set to cut its workforce from 50 to less than 20.

Following the collapse of Pelamis, a rival wave-power technology firm also based in the Orkney islands, and a recipient of nearly £15 million ($24 million) worth of funding from the Scottish government, the news is a further blow to Scotland’s fledgling renewable energy sector.

Aquamarine Power chief executive, John Malcolm, said that the decision to downsize was "a consequence of the financial, regulatory and technical challenges faced by the ocean energy sector as a whole".

Nevertheless, perhaps in part to the troubles that such companies are having in developing this technology, the Scottish government has recently announced that it would set up a ‘new technology development body’ to facilitate the new wave energy industry.

Indeed, the downsizing of Aquamarine is perhaps symptomatic of a wider issue with an industry that former First Minister Alex Salmond, a vocal supporter of wave and tidal power, had said could transform Scotland into the Saudi Arabia of marine power.