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capitalised” sector could create 43,500 direct jobs and generate a potential £4.2B (€5B) per year in revenue for the UK economy. Scotland has particular cause for aquat- ic optimism, with 25% of Europe’s tidal and 10% of its wave-energy resources. Via Tidal Sails – the company formed


hot on the heels of the regatta epiphany – Børgesen claims to be presiding over a concept with the cheapest and highest profit margins in the marine energy space. The big idea is to attach sails to a continuous wire loop that spans a stretch of flowing water. Sails are angled to resist pressure exerted by the water, and react by exerting sideways pressure on the wires, which rotate round pulleys like a conveyor.


Power is extracted at the pulleys and used to drive generators. The sails do not pass around the pulley system but are collected and in a cassette and remounted, much like ski-lift system. Tidal Sails also plans to offer a version for rivers, essentially using the same system, but with the conveyor configured in a triangular form, tapping into resources that would economically impossible for other technologies. Børgesen believes that Tidal Sails stands apart from other


red tape-strapped industry that often, says Børgesen, favours financially doped solutions that are now steaming ahead of the pack without necessarily having wherewithal for the long-haul. “My impression is that the choice of technology for many large companies with bundles of cash is fixed on the wrong terms for all the wrong reasons,” he says.


“It’s political lobbying, friendship and Traditional turbine solutions irk Børgesen underwater players due to its huge rectangular catchment area and ability to span any depth (only the station moor- ings need to be fixed near shore). What’s more, the sails move slower than the current and horizontally, so that mechanical stresses, friction and risks to marine life and shipping are minimized.


But while Tidal Sails joined the “European “Champions’ League” of innovative SMEs when it won a major R&D contract from the EU-sponsored Eurostars Programme, it hasn’t been entirely plain sailing for – not due to any inherent technological limitations, but rather the constrictive architecture of a so on. Therefore we end up putting hundreds of millions into developing complete hopeless technologies. Like [the distinctive sea snake-shaped Scottish based wave power purveyors] Pelamis – there was absolutely no way they could make this work, and it has been proven wrong now.” In particular, Børgesen is irked by traditional turbine solutions that have hoovered up invaluable cash reserves. “These types of technology can produce maximum 1 MW,” he explains. “If they get any bigger than that they tend to break apart. This is where everyone is: Atlantis 1.1MW, SeaGen 1.2m, and Hammerfest Strøm 1 MW. They all hit the wall in this region.”


Where the maximum coverage of a

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