Wave energy scotland
Discover how we're driving the development of wave energy technology in Scotland
Watch the video on WES's creation, purpose and impact.
The Scottish Government, realising the challenges in private sector investment for wave energy technology developers, incorporated Wave Energy Scotland (WES) in 2014.
WES serves as the leading organisation dedicated to addressing the technical challenges within the wave energy sector. As a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), WES is committed to facilitating research and development initiatives aimed at expediting advancements in wave energy technologies and their associated subsystems.
Discover our headline figures
funded contracts
organisations benefited from our support
awarded contracts
countries involved in our wave energy programmes
Discover the detailed process of PCP (Video credit: EuropeWave)
WES uses a pre-commercial procurement model to drive innovation. This is effectively a technology competition, where a number of potential suppliers enter the programme through an open tender and then carry out a phase of development. At the end of the phase, the concepts are tested, and the best technology is taken through to the next stage for further development. This continues for 3 phases of development, until mature technology can be achieved.
The advantage of this approach to the suppliers is that they can receive up to 100% funding to develop their technology, and the public procurer can quickly identify the best technology through this competitive approach.
This funding mechanism was absolutely essential to Mocean Energy being launched as a company.Cameron McNatt, Co-founder and Managing Director, Mocean Energy