Tidal energy company Nova Innovation is looking to crowdfund £500,000 on investment platform Seedrs, offering 1.74% equity, in order to support its tidal energy technology and boost its growth across Europe and North America.

The news comes after Nova applied to build a tidal energy array in Nova Scotia, Canada. The project is set to use Nova’s 100kW turbines, which have been operating in Scotland for over three years.

In 2016 Nova installed its first offshore tidal array in Shetland deploying three Nova M100 tidal turbines. The current Nova M100 turbines have a conventional geared drive train, but the company is planning to remove the need for a gearbox in the future.

CEO of Nova Innovation Simon Forrest said: “With the climate emergency and a global hunger for clean, sustainable energy, the time is right to invest in additional sources of renewable energy.

“We are offering the opportunity for people to invest in Nova and join our mission to harness energy from the tide, securing this source of clean electricity for the future,” he added.

Nova highlights that as well as bringing environmental benefits; the growth of untapped tidal energy will create jobs and reinforce the marine energy sector. This is backed up by UK Catapult which estimates that the tidal industry could bring an additional £1.4bn net benefit to the UK by 2030 and would support 14,500 jobs by 2040, while strengthening the economy and coastal communities.

Forrest added: “The investment will drive our three-year plan to lower the cost of tidal energy, accelerate growth and move into new international markets. Not only are we delivering clean energy, we are creating a clean tech industry with a truly global mission.”

Despite a great deal of hype in tidal technology over the years, there are few large scale tidal projects actually in operation. The largest planned project to date, The Swansea Tidal Barrage was cancelled over fears the cost would outweigh the benefits, a problem that affects many tidal projects.

Seedrs has previously funded over 900 deals to date and has had over £720 million invested on its platform. Investments made through Seedrs offer voting shares to investors and use professional grade subscription agreements.