Plans to develop a wave power project off the Shetland Islands have been scrapped.

Swedish firm Vattenfall said it is appointing a liquidator to Aegir Wave Power, a joint venture launched with Pelamis Wave Power in 2009.

They had planned on developing a 10MW array.

Vattenfall said the decision to pull back from the wave energy sector comes after a six-month review.

Bjorn Bolund, who is responsible for ocean energy in Vattenfall’s R&D team said: “Unfortunately the wave sector has not developed as planned. Set against Vattenfall’s pressing need to decarbonise our own power supply it has proved difficult to continue investing heavily in wave power in the absence of a commercial technology.”

The company plans to focus its investment in wind energy.