Offshore wind turbine; (c) Marine Current Turbines Limited

Marine Energy

The UK government is actively developing marine energy as part of its Renewable Energy Roadmap and today the UK has the majority of marine energy devices deployed globally. Current activities include developing a program of marine energy innovation, securing investment for commercial development, Evolution of Policy on planning and consent issues and development of the supply chain infrastructure. The UK Renewables Roadmap is available here.

On this page you can read more about how the UK government is encouraging the development of marine energy, some of the leading installations on trial today and the research activities working to develop the technology.

The green policy approach and the Renewables Obligation

“Enabling the transition to a green economy: government and business working together” sets out the government’s approach to building the green economy and forms part of the continuing dialogue between government, business and communities on how to tackle the important issue of moving to a Green Economy. To understand how your business plans could play a part in the UKs vision please contact UKTI for a confidential review of opportunities in marine energy, help building your contacts network or for introductions to the most appropriate R&D activity. Contact us by email on enquiries@ukti-invest.com.

The UK government has introduced the Renewables Obligation to encourage supply of renewable energy. Energy suppliers have a statutory obligation for a defined proportion of the energy they deliver to be come from renewable sources. Generators selling renewable energy supply a Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) to validate the amount of energy supplied from the renewable source.

The Government intends that the Renewables Obligation supports early commercial wave and tidal energy projects. This is why they are proposing to more than double the support to marine energy projects up to 30MW (no cap applied in Scotland waters). This should help companies secure financing for projects and accelerate the growth of the sector.

The Scottish WATERS Initiative

Scottish Enterprise has launched a second round of competitive funding for wave and tidal energy valued at £6m from the £13m WATERS initiative. The WATERS 2 call will promote research and development activities in Scotland aimed at bringing low-cost-energy marine energy devices to commercial application.

World leading Marine Energy Installations

The world’s two largest tidal turbines are deployed in the UK – SeaGen and Atlantis – with more devices to be deployed in Orkney. Two of the world’s most advanced wave energy devices are currently deployed in the UK, Pelamis and Aquamarine’s Oyster.

World leading research and demonstration facilities

The UK is home to research facilities that are leading the advances in marine energy installations.

Narec in Blyth, Northumberland, offers a purpose built large scale wave flume device for testing small-scale devices. Collaboration with UK and European organisations has enabled developers to move from early prototypes to large scale development.

European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), in Orkney, Scotland, is the first centre of its kind in the world, offering developers the opportunity to test full scale grid connected prototype devices in testing wave and tidal conditions. EMEC provides the world only multi-berth open sea test facilities.

Wavehub in Cornwall provides offshore infrastructure for demonstration and proving arrays of wave energy devices. The hub is linked to the UK’s grid network. Four separate berths are available to lease, each with a capacity of 4-5MW.

The SuperGen Marine Research Programme aims to complete generic research on the potential and future exploitation of the marine energy resource. The second phase includes five core academic institutions – the University of Edinburgh, Heriot- Watt University, Lancaster University, Queens University Belfast and the University of Strathclyde and aims to increase knowledge and understanding of sea-device interactions of energy converters.

PRIMaRE – The Peninsular Institute for Marine Renewable Energy is a response from the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter that brings together international researchers and world class facilities to accelerate the development of marine technology and address the challenges facing businesses involved in marine energy. Research capabilities include a high performance computing cluster and a wave tank with a programmable wave maker.

The UKs commitment to marine energy is creating an exciting new business opportunity. To join the project contact UKTI to receive expert guidance, advice and hands on help realising your investment in this UK market.

Our investment location services are independent, highly professional and free of charge. For specific help setting up in the UK or for help mapping your business ambitions to the UK please contact us by email enquiries@ukti-invest.com.