Grey Island Energy, a St. John’s, N.L., clean tech company, is on a mission to raise $750,000 to finance a series of tests to validate its wave energy technology.

The company, which operates out of the Genesis Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland, is developing SeaWEED, a device that produces electricity using the motion of ocean waves.

“We’re developing a device that is elegant in its simplicity and that can be built in any shipyard,” said chief operating officer Daniel Hoyles, speaking last week in Halifax at the PitchCamp event, which the company won.

Environmental engineers have been looking at wave-action technologies for years as one tile in the mosaic of green energy sources that will eventually replace massive generators run by burning carbon-based fuels. The technology could be especially beneficial in powering outlying areas like coastal communities.

One thing sets Grey Island apart from other companies in this space. Most of the technology in the field has a hard time handling stormy weather or high waves, but SeaWEED thrives in such conditions.

“We would be the logical choice when you’re going to see heavy weather,” said Hoyles, adding that SeaWEED’s optimal site has waves or swells of more than 1.5 metres.

That means the device could be installed next to oil rigs in the North Atlantic or the North Sea, and give the rig a steady supply of renewable energy. SeaWEED will operate at about half the cost of a diesel-powered generator, and there are no worries about the environmental hazards in transporting diesel.

So far, the team has carried out three tests on a one-sixteenth scale model at the massive flume tank (a huge pool used for work with nautical gear) at the Marine Institute in St. John’s. These tests have begun to validate the concept, but more work is needed.

Chief technology officer Brian Lundrigan said the company’s next steps are to further test the concept by incorporating several performance-enhancing changes into a new scale model and do more work on its numerical models that will then be validated by a third party. Grey Island hopes to have a working full-scale prototype available within 18 to 24 months.

The company needs about $2 million to finance the next phase of work and has already lined up $1.25 million in financing. However, all funds must be secured before the project can proceed, so Hoyles and Lundrigan are courting investors with the goal of raising the final $750,000.

Once they validate the technology, they are certain they will have an eager market. The European Union, for example, is bringing in aggressive targets in renewable energy, and SeaWEED would be especially attractive to island nations like the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“They realize there’s not going to be just one solution to fix our energy needs,” said Hoyles. “It’s going to be a mix of solutions, including ocean wave resources.”