UK Caudal Energy Raises £4.3M To Develop Tidal Power Technology

The investment marks a significant institutional commitment to tidal energy in the UK, highlighting growing interest in reliable renewable power sources that can help balance grid costs and reduce system volatility.

Founded in 2024 as Porpoise Power, Caudal Energy is built on hydrodynamic research from the University of Oxford, led by co-founder Professor Adrian Thomas. The company is reimagining tidal energy generation using a biomimetic approach inspired by the efficiency of marine mammals’ tail fins.

Read Also - Italy WeRoad Raises €49M Series C Led By Airbnb

Its proprietary oscillating foil system is designed to work with tidal flows rather than against them, enabling a simpler, more efficient, and commercially scalable alternative to traditional turbine-based systems.

The modular, surface-mounted design reduces installation complexity, lowers maintenance costs, and improves operational efficiency.

The technology aims to expand tidal energy deployment beyond extreme high-flow sites into more common mid-flow locations, significantly increasing the number of viable sites worldwide while maintaining predictable baseload energy output.

Caudal Energy’s system is already at Technology Readiness Level 5, with funding set to support full-scale testing at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland. The company is targeting its first commercial deployment by 2028, reaching TRL8.

The new capital will be used to strengthen engineering capabilities, advance demonstration projects, and accelerate partnerships across utility, industrial, and distributed energy markets as the company moves toward commercial-scale deployment.

According to John Kennedy, CEO of Caudal Energy, the future energy system needs renewable power that is not only clean, but dependable and built to scale.

“We founded Caudal to challenge the assumption that tidal energy has to remain complex, costly and niche. Our approach combines smarter hydrodynamic design with modular deployment architecture to create a system designed for real-world performance.

By unlocking the potential of mid-flow tidal sites, we believe Caudal can dramatically expand where tidal energy can be deployed and how commercially competitive it can become.”