Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter
SCOTLAND’S fledgling renewables industry has been hit with a fresh crisis
after energy firm Aquamarine Power announced it is to ‘significantly
downsize’ its business, laying off all but its core staff.
The Edinburgh-based company said it had launched a consultation process
with employees as part of a major restructuring amid reports its workforce
could be cut from more than 50 to less than 20.
Aquamarine??s move came less than two weeks after the collapse of rival
wave energy pioneer Pelamis into administration. The world-leading
renewables firm that had received more than £15 million of funding from the
Scottish Government went into administration with directors claiming they
had been unable to secure much-needed additional finance.
Both Aquamarine and Pelamis have advanced the sector’s technology with
projects in Orkney but renewables industry professionals are reported to
have claimed the firms have found it increasingly difficult to persuade
backers that their technology can soon be made commercially viable.
Aquamarine Power Chief Executive John Malcolm said the decision to downsize
the firm came after a strategic review.
He said: ‘This will involve retaining a core operational and management
team to run the business and continue maintaining our Oyster 800 wave
machine at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.
‘We have entered into a consultation process with all of our employees on
how we will take forward the restructuring and redundancy programme.
‘This is obviously taking place at a difficult time of year and we will be
working very closely with every employee to achieve the best outcome for all.’
He added: ‘None of this is a reflection on the extraordinary dedication and
hard work of every single member of the Aquamarine Power team; rather it is
a consequence of the considerable financial, regulatory and technical
challenges faced by the ocean energy sector as a whole.
‘In a relatively short number of years our business has significantly
advanced the goal of generating electricity from waves and this has relied
wholly upon the bright ideas, innovation and talent of the people who work
here.
‘We remain confident that Oyster technology offers the best route to a
commercial near shore wave energy machine.’
The Scottish Government recently announced it would set up a new technology
development body to encourage innovation in the wave energy industry.
It added that Wave Energy Scotland would bring the best engineering and
academic minds together to work on furthering the technology.
The downsizing of Aquamarine is the latest to beset the industry, which
former First Minister Alex Salmond, a vocal supporter of wave and tidal
power, said had the potential to transform Scotland into the ‘Saudi Arabia
of marine power’.
In July last year, energy giant E.On pulled out of the Pelamis wave power
research project in Orkney over concerns that development of the technology
has been too slow.
It was hoped the wave energy converter at the European Marine Energy Centre
in Stromness would lead to 500 homes being powered, but doubts were cast
over the viability of the scheme without E.On’s involvement.
Scottish Renewables said recent troubles highlighted the challenging
conditions of the sector and the risks inherent in developing new technology.
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