Ocean Navitas
Ocean Navitas was incorporated in May 2006 by experienced engineers, businessmen and sailing enthusiasts David Hunt, James McCague and Simon Condry. Located in Marton near Gainsborough, West Lindsey, Ocean Navitias has six full-time employees.
Following 18 months of intensive research Technical Director James McCague concluded that generating energy from waves and swells is the most efficient renewable energy source, and that existing methods of converting waves into energy were flawed.
Following these findings James and his colleague Simon Condry developed the Aegir Dynamo™ wave energy converter which uses a completely unique patented power conversion technique, which has the potential to be considerably more efficient than any similar technology currently in the marketplace.
Having heard about Innovation Lincolnshire through a Lincolnshire County Council-led business support programme called Advance Rural Lincolnshire, Project Co-ordinator Alistair Knight contacted the team to find out if they were eligible for support.
"The Innovation Manager who was assigned to our project has been incredibly helpful and has devoted a lot of time understanding what Ocean Navitas wants to achieve and how best we can achieve it," said Alistair.
"During the development of the Aegir Dynamo™ we have come up against a number of barriers which have hindered the growth of the business, namely, a lack of Government funding for projects which are in their infancy.
"Through a detailed process of analysis the Innovation Lincolnshire advisors identified the importance of early stage funding to allow the development of a demo device. They spent many hours assessing the business and consulted with engineers within their wider team to assess the viability of the technology prior to submitting an application for grant aid.
"We have since been awarded a grant of £15,000 which will be used to pay for the construction of a prototype Aegir Dynamo™ for testing and verification purposes. It's hoped the results from this will enable the future development of our 35kW shore-based wave energy conversion device and provide us with the data to develop a larger device for commercial use."
