Ministers from Scotland and Northern Ireland have approved nearly £5 million for new tidal and wave energy projects.

At the biggest gathering of its kind in the world, RenewableUK’s Wave and Tidal Energy conference, ministers re-affirmed their commitment to developing the UK’s abundant marine resources to their full potential with the major funding announcement. 

Fergus Ewing, Scottish Energy Minister, told the conference that Scotland’s marine energy sector will receive a funding injection worth nearly £5 million. Commenting on the decision he said:  “Scotland is at the forefront of developing offshore and low carbon energy generation technology with some of the world’s greatest wind, wave and tidal resources heavily concentrated in the waters around our country. Today’s allocation of almost £5 million in Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund and Renewable Energy Investment Funding highlights our commitment to supporting the growth of the marine energy sector in Scotland. The funding announced today will help facilitate some of the country’s most innovative and exciting marine energy projects and I am delighted we are able to assist these companies.”

The Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF) is a £103 million Scottish government fund created to support the renewables industry in Scotland. The Marine Renewable Commercialisation Fund is also a Scottish-based fund which aims to bring marine energy to the forefront of the commercial energy market. 

At the same conference, Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s Assembly Member and department of enterprise, trade and investment minister, said: “The renewables sector is of vital importance to the economy, to the environment and to the security of our long term energy needs.”

She added: “There are significant business opportunities across the wider energy sector and my department has been working to match those opportunities with the specific strengths of our local businesses. We have around 230 companies active in this sector”.

Marine energy has had something of a revival in the UK with plans announced for the world’s first energy generating and recreational tidal lagoon in Swansea and further talk about tidal lagoon in Somerset , which could help prevent the kind of flooding the UK has suffered in recent weeks. 

Mindful of its natural advantages in wind, hydro and marine energy, Scotland has lofty renewable energy ambitions, with First Minister Alex Salmond having previously said he wants the nation to be 100 per cent powered by renewables by 2050. Scotland has also thrown its weight behind hydro-power. Plans to implement a new generation of hydro-power that could see as much as 1040MW generated by hydro plants if the planned expansion goes ahead. 

Maria McCaffrey, RenewableUK’s chief executive, said:“Ministers from Scotland and Northern Ireland have made firm commitments to continue to develop the UK’s bountiful wave and tidal energy resources, to harness some of our strongest natural resources to generate clean electricity. The funding announced today shows that there is strong commitment at Ministerial level to ensuring that the UK continues to lead the world at the cutting edge of marine technology.”

She added: “We already have more wave and tidal energy devices installed than the rest of the world put together. If we continue down this path, we can continue to create thousands of high-quality jobs in the dynamic marine energy sector”.