Business Spotlight: HydroWing

Based in Gaerwen, HydroWing is the flagship tidal technology solution of Inyanga Marine Energy Group. HydroWing is an innovative tidal technology solution that incorporates a full systems approach, with low cost operations & maintenance and power reliability core to its design.

HydroWing joined GlobalWelsh’s Business membership programme in 2024. We caught up with commercial manager, Osian Roberts, to chat about the company’s global ambitions and how tidal energy could be a fantastic opportunity for Wales…

Tell us about your business and how does Inyanga and Hydrowing work together?

Inyanga is our parent company based in Penryn, Cornwall. They are an offshore operations and engineering consultancy for the marine renewables sector. Incredibly, 55% of the world’s tidal energy capacity to date has been installed by Inyanga’s team, so we are a serious player in the green energy market.

Up here in Anglesey, we have developed Hydrowing, Inyanga’s flagship technology, a tidal energy converter which aims to provide cost-effective, reliable and predictable marine power. It’s a real innovative solution which has the potential to be a real game-changer for the tidal industry.

What is the problem that you're solving and what you're doing to combat that?

The tidal industry has existed for over a decade now and in that time it has struggled to drive down its levelized cost of energy which is preventing it from becoming a competitive and thriving renewable energy market. The two main issues with this, lie in turbine complexity and reliability and expensive offshore maintenance. That’s what we’re looking to solve with HydroWing.

Our HydroWing tidal device is much smaller, more effective, reliable and cost effective, than those currently being used. We have a frame, a bi-blade configuration with two rotors which is able to exploit the full flow of the tide not just one way. Our passive pitch blade system enables us to draw 60% more yield from a given tidal flow due to our ability to shed load on our blades.  The HydroWing device is modular which means that it is quick and simple to install, and extremely reliable with very little down time. 

Why is tidal a great renewable energy source?

Put simply, we’ll always have the moon and we’ll always have the tide! It’s a constant and reliable source of energy. Come rain or shine. We have developed solutions that will enable energy providers the means to maximise their outputs by taking full advantage of the tide’s range.

As mentioned, if we shift to more efficient methods of capturing that energy then it’s also a very cost-effective source or energy for both producers and consumers.

So what is the opportunity for Wales in this space?

Wales is certainly well positioned to become a leader in the renewable energy sector, with the tidal capacity to become world leader in the tidal energy industry. We have a lot of coastline and a lot of tidal resources - with multi-gigawatts of capacity available! The minute when you talk about tidal stream energy it needs to be close to the grid and in Anglesey we have this close-grid capability, which is fairly rare! So we have the perfect storm here and we need to capitalise on that.

It’s also a significant opportunity to build from what currently is an asset industry to a really focused and clustered supply chain industry. We want to keep as much of our supply chain hyperlocal to Anglesey and north Wales and expand out to the rest of Wales. Essentially the opportunity is huge and we can have a global reach from Wales, using Welsh materials and Welsh knowledge.

As a company, where are you on your journey right now? 

We have decades of expertise in the tidal industry, we’ve spent the last seven years building Hydrowing. We're still pre-revenue, but we are very much on the cusp of commercialisation and looking to raise money to take us to our next phase.

We were recently successful in the last UK Government's Contracts for Difference allocation round. We won a 10 megawatts portion of the allocation. Making it the largest tidal stream project in Wales to date. We will then install that 10 megawatts at the Morlais site in Anglesey from 2028 that will produce electricity into the grid.

We'll be looking to raise funds both for the 10 megawatt installation from 2028, and also for a pre array installation. At the same site, the Morlais site, in 2025 where we will go into the water and verify our device at that same site as a precursor for the commercial rate from 2028.

So, for the first round of fundraising we’ll be looking for four million pounds to fund that initial device installation at Morlais. That will enable us to verify site production data for 12 months, leading into the commercial rate.

You’re pitching at our upcoming Connect to London event, what kind of connections are you looking to make?

So in terms of investors, in the long term, we would like to start building our network of VCs and major OEMs, to partner with in the future. For our current round of investment we are looking for angel investors that want to take a first step into verifying this technology and getting equity into the top core of the business, we're very much interested in learning from them.

We're also looking for people who have experience or connections in the industry around the world and those who want to support us on our journey in a mentoring or advisory capacity.

What does the next five years look like for HydroWing?

So opportunities in tidal are huge, globally. There’s upwards of 500 gigawatts of tidal energy potential to be tapped into. To give context, that is 1.5 times the current nuclear capacity. So we’re only just scraping the surface. 

As a company we have key target markets within the UK that we're looking at. But also the Channel Islands, Canada, Indonesia, and the US. We already have a very healthy project pipeline with 78 million pounds in terms of CapEx that we're looking at. So we’ll be seeking investment to build out those projects too, and they are all over the world. So we are looking to grow the company, export the services and the technology from Wales to those target areas in the next five years.

What are your motivations for joining GlobalWelsh?

We’re a Welsh company and proudly so, but we work in an industry with a global reach and have the potential to export Wales, to the world. It’s unique to have access to a business network of Welsh people who can support us on our journey and means to attract talent back to Wales to come and work for us. We don't want to miss an opportunity, in a similar way that offshore wind did, in that we have the resources, we have the technology, we have the expertise, we have the people right here in Wales. 

 Connect with HydroWing via GlobalWelsh >>