WITT Limited, the South West of England based renewable energy tech company, has secured a £350k contract with the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) to develop energy harvesting technology for the subsea environment. DASA is a cross-Government organisation and part of the Ministry of Defence; it finds and funds innovation to support UK defence and security.
DASA put out its ‘Open Call’ last year for ‘Rapid Impact’ innovations that could quickly and effectively support the UK defence sector and WITT’s successful contract award will be published on the gov.uk website later this month. The funds will be used to develop the WITT (Whatever Input to Torsion Transfer) energy capture and storage device specifically for subsea defence applications.
WITT’s renewable energy technology has recently been undergoing trials at Turnchapel Wharf, Plymouth, which is the UK’s home of maritime autonomy.
WITT Energy Awarded £350k MoD Contract
The WITT is a ground-breaking device that efficiently captures energy from all planes of movement and turns it into electricity that can be stored until needed - it has been hailed as the most exciting development in the renewable energy sector since the solar panel. In the subsea environment the WITT converts the vortex induced vibrations (VIV) created by ocean currents into usable electrical power and it is unique because it can do this with a waterflow of just 0.5 mtr/sec. The WITT is contained within a sealed vessel and provides a low maintenance source of off-grid power to remote and hard-to-reach locations.
Mairi Wickett, business development director and co-founder of WITT Limited, said: “Securing the funding from DASA has been a huge boost; it will facilitate additional development of the technology and enable us to investigate new applications for the system subsea - such as providing power for sensors, data gathering and mammal and temperature studies. It also further reinforces the WITT’s credibility in the sector and puts us in a strong position for our next round of fundraising. The WITT is a clean, green power solution with countless applications, our main aim is to use our technology to revolutionise off-grid power generation and reduce global CO2 production.”
Mike Madden, the DASA Innovation Partner for the South West of England, said: “It is great to see growing companies like this succeeding in getting DASA funding. This proposal was welcomed as a potential solution for an enduring problem for defence, for which limited options have been available. It is attractive that this idea also has potential cross-sector appeal in addition to the clear defence need. While the DASA funding has clearly been welcomed by the company, the benefits they will accrue as a result of this successful bid will include increased access to the defence user, and science and technology communities; it’s hard to put a value on that, but it is not to be underestimated”
Based at Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park, WITT Limited has gone from strength to strength since the record-breaking Crowdfund raise in 2016 where it attracted almost £2.4 million of investment and became the biggest ever crowdfunded equity raise by a clean tech company. Since then, the WITT has been granted patents worldwide including UK, USA, China and Europe and has patents pending in Korea, Brazil, Canada, India and Russia. The WITT has also been recognised by a series of high profile national and international awards since its inception, most recently this year it won the Solar Impulse Foundation/World Alliance Efficient Solution Label as one of the 1000 Best Clean Green Affordable Solutions to Protect the Planet and Reduce CO2.
For more information about the technology and investment opportunities, visit www.witt-energy.com