Marine energy technology group OpenHydro has been awarded €1.8m in grant support under the Scottish Executive's Wave and Tidal Energy Scheme.
The Irish-based group designs and manufactures turbines to generate renewable energy from tidal currents.
The grant will go towards building a second open-centre turbine at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland.
The company said the turbine will be mounted on the seabed where no part of the structure will be visible from the surface and it will be deep enough not to interfere with shipping traffic. This is the approach OpenHydro will adopt for all future developments, it said.
Deputy First Minister, Nicol Stehen, said today :'Scotland has the potential to generate a quarter of Europe's marine energy and kick-starting the sector is vital if we are to create a significant industry based in Scotland and meet our long term renewable targets.'
OpenHydro recently won a tender from Nova Scotia Power, a Canadian Utility, for the deployment of open-centre turbines in the Bay of Fundy.
