SEAI Funding Secured for Next Phase of Development

GKinetic has just received €99,562 in funding from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s (SEAI) Prototype Development Fund to carry out further optimisation and testing in the Limerick Docks this August. This follows an exciting year of business development activities including our progression of plans to design, build and demonstrate a 250 kW tidal device after successfully setting up a consortium of EU project partners. In March this year, machine builders, DesignPro Ltd. secured Horizon 2020 funding to commercialise small scale river devices using GKinetic’s technology. In addition, we were recently shortlisted for Ireland’s 2017 Marine Industry Excellence in Marine Renewable Energy Award. Aside from business development this past year, significant effort went into the devices PTO (Power Take Off) system and with support from MaREI (Marine and renewable Energy Ireland) and LiR, the control law has now been defined. This marked a huge step in the advancement of our technology.

This funding will see the deployment of an improved prototype device in the Limerick Docks, a purpose built test facility setup working with Shannon Foynes Port Company. GKinetic will collaborate with NUI Galway, MaREI and Numerics Warehouse to carry out optimisation tests on key components of the device. We will use data instruments from Queen’s University Belfast, a custom winch from Windworks and a crane made available by the port for deploying and lifting out the device. Testing is projected to run for a 6 week period. This follows on from a very successful testing phase in the Limerick Docks last year, where the deployment method and device stability were thoroughly tested and have been improved.

This is another significant milestone in the development of our technology. If you are interested in visiting us at the Limerick Docks to view the device and testing operations, please contact the company email at info@gkinetic.com.