Date Created: 12 October 2011
Eight new Scottish offshore sites have been agreed for wave and tidal energy projects taking the total number of UK projects to over 30 and reinforcing the ‘appetite’ for marine energy investment.
The new sites are from the second application window for projects in connection with the Scottish Government’s Saltire Prize (in Scottish waters) and demonstration projects, which opened in April 2011.
The Crown Estate announced the projects in a variety of locations around the UK coast, with the majority off Scotland and including sites off Wales and Northern Ireland. They range from small technology test schemes for short term installation to commercial projects with up to 30 MW potential generating capacity.
Growing momentum for investment
Scottish Government Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: “Scotland has the potential to lead the world in wave and tidal energy, with a quarter of Europe's tidal stream and a tenth of its wave energy potential. These new projects around the north and west of Scotland bring the total number of planned developments in Scotland to 25, including 1.6GW in the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters strategic area. Today’s announcement further reinforces the growing momentum and appetite for investment in marine renewables and demonstrates the breadth of activity taking place around Scotland’s coast.”
The next steps
In most of the cases agreements have been made to lease out areas of seabed. The process of consultation, community engagement, surveying and design will now begin, in preparation to install generation devices.
The projects will be regulated by strict government bodies such as the Marine Stewardship Organisation in order to ensure that they are environmentally sound.
Rob Hastings, Director of the Marine Estate of The Crown Estate, said: “Our announcement today is a further indication of how UK companies are taking strides forwards towards commercial deployment of wave and tidal energy, particularly in Scotland. In the last six months we have continued to see strong interest in wave and tidal leases.”
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