Aquamarine Power (“Aquamarine”) announces the appointment of acclaimed engineering design guru, Professor Stephen Salter as a Specialist Advisor.
Professor Salter will provide technical services and industry advice on Aquamarine’s ongoing research and development program for the Oyster® wave power device and Neptune™ tidal device; and help Aquamarine deliver original concepts for other marine renewable devices. This new partnership will continue to build Aquamarine’s strong leadership in renewable energy technology creation.
Professor Stephen Salter’s career spans over four decades
As a design engineer Professor Salter began his career by completing his apprenticeship in the aircraft industry, eventually working as an instrumentation engineer on the first hovercraft and on Black Knight, the UK’s rocket project of the early 1960’s. After reading physics and researching at Cambridge University he moved to the University of Edinburgh where he worked on robot mechanics and electronics in the School of Artificial Intelligence, creating the robot Freddy, one of the earliest robots to integrate vision, manipulation and intelligent systems. Professor Salter later turned his attention to renewable energy and in particular, wave power.
A pioneer and leader in his field, Professor Salter led a team at the University of Edinburgh in the 1970’s to design and develop ‘Salter’s Edinburgh Duck’. The Duck was the first generation wave energy converter, designed using a revolutionary wave tank (also designed by Salter). The Duck is one of the most efficient wave-energy converters and continues to be the device against which all others are measured. The Duck can be seen in the National Museum of Scotland, along with Freddy the robot.
Professor Salter is a Fellow at the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an MBE. In 1986 he was awarded a Personal Chair in Engineering Design. Professor Salter is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Edinburgh. After announcing his retirement five years ago, Professor Salter continues to design and develop a range of technologies and innovations in many sectors including renewable energy, climate change and global warming.
Working with industry leading team
The partnership with Professor Salter will allow Aquamarine to tap into a wealth of accumulated experience gathered over a life time of research and development in the field.
Professor Salter joins an already impressive team, which includes his long-time colleague, Professor Trevor Whittaker who is also Specialist Advisor to the Board of Aquamarine. Professor Whittaker, an award-winning expert in wave powered engineering is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Professor of Coastal Engineering at Queen's University Belfast. He has also been a leading pioneer of wave power engineering since the early 1970s. In the 1990s he managed the team which designed, constructed and operated Britain's first wave power station, located on the Isle of Islay. Since then Professor Whittaker has been involved in the design and deployment of six wave power devices and supervised 22 PhDs in wave power.
Martin McAdam, Chief Executive of Aquamarine commented: “Professor Stephen Salter could be likened to the founding father of wave power. With his exceptional career and diverse knowledge, I am delighted to be working with Stephen and feel confident that his contribution will see Aquamarine deliver market-leading technology.”
Professor Stephen Salter added “I was delighted to be invited to join Aquamarine particularly as they are involved in both wave and tidal stream projects. We need to develop every possible renewable energy source and ideas initiated in one can solve problems in others. The marine renewables are starting to move from the laboratory to exploitation and now need the leadership that Martin McAdam has shown for wind developments with Airtricity. He has built up an impressive team of young engineers and I am looking forward to working with them.”