Public Funding for Morgallos Limited

The UK was once home to over 200 tide mills, which used water mills driven by flood and ebb tides, in a similar way to inland water mills. Indeed, the first generation of tidal energy is thought to date back to 60AD, at a site on the Thames. The TiMUKA - Tide Mills UK & Africa - project is designed to enable the restoration of historic tide mills in UK, using technologies and civil engineering installation methods that may also be used to install advanced tide mills in developing countries, starting in Sub Saharan Africa. The project will draw on ground-breaking work by UK leading tidal energy experts, Tide Mills Limited supported by Mojo Maritime, in a challenging programme designed rapidly to deliver clean, renewable and predictable tidal energy at community scale to coastal communities, starting in the UK and Africa, but ultimately world wide.

Marine renewable energy could provide up to 20% of UK electricity consumption. The sector is in the early phase of commercialisation. To become economically viable and reach its potential the marine renewable energy sector needs to reduce the cost and time taken to deploy tidal energy converter devices in large scale arrays. Tidepod Ltd is a start-up business based in Falmouth, Cornwall co-founded by Commodore Steven Jermy RN and Philip Hemsted. Tidepod Ltd was formed to commercialise Steven Jermy's invention to reduce the cost of deploying, installing, maintaining and recovering tidal energy converter devices. The business is in bootstrap mode having self-funded the initial market research, patent applications and concept development. The business has entered into a collaboration agreement with University of Plymouth/ Peninsula Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE) to develop the proof of concept of the Tidepod device. The Tidepod concept is to fit tidal energy converters onto a submersible electrically-powered barge. Tidepod's are towed to the required location and connected to the inter-array cables and then self-submerge. The Tidepod self-positions under its own motive power to the right location on the sea floor. The Tidepod is secured on the seafloor by virtue of its weight, in the same way as a wreck or submerged submarine. For on-site maintenance, the Tidepod is surfaced, using onboard compressed air and, for repair and deep maintenance, disconnected and towed to a local dockyard. The purpose of the proof of concept is to develop the naval architecture of the Tidepod using software modelling and a tank-tested-scale-model prototype device to to confirm the submergibility and stability of the Tidepod in deployment and operating on the sea floor.