Carbon Trust will help run a new multi-million pound fund to
help develop Scotland's first commercial wave and tidal power
arrays. Addressing the AllEnergy conference in Aberdeen, First
Minister Alex Salmond launched Scotland's Marine Renewables
Commercialisation Fund (MRCF).
The First Minister said:
"Europe's greatest wind, wave and tidal resources are heavily
concentrated in the waters around these islands and Scotland is at
the forefront of developing offshore and low carbon energy
generation technologies. The new fund brings together the marine
renewables expertise of the Carbon Trust, Scottish Government and
our enterprise agencies. It will help move the wave and tidal
sector from prototype devices to commercially-viable arrays,
producing increasing amounts of electricity solely from the power
of the seas and deliver a lasting legacy for future
generations."
Dr Stephen Wyatt, Head of Technology Acceleration, the Carbon
Trust, added:
"Scotland has a world leading resource and is a hot bed of
innovation and deployment making marine energy an exciting green
growth sector. We are delighted to be involved in developing
and delivering the new Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund
over the next three years. This new fund will be critical to
tackle the next set of challenges and innovate to drive down costs
of both wave and tidal power.
"Our recent analysis of the sector has shown that with continued
innovation the best marine energy sites could be cost competitive
with nuclear and onshore wind by 2025 and in the future marine
energy could provide a fifth of the UK's electricity needs."
Background
The MRCF will be available to boost the roll-out of wave and/or
tidal power arrays, to support the marine energy sector to make the
next step towards commercial maturity, and help planned
developments in the Pentland Firth & Orkney Waters, and other
marine locations around Scotland. It is open for bids, for two
months from today, with the announcement of successful projects to
due to be announced towards the end of this year.
For further information see: www.carbontrust.com/MRCF
Carbon Trust's latest report on Marine
Energy can be found here: Accelerating Marine
Energy
Media Contacts
Carbon Trust Press Office - press@carbontrust.com or
phone 020 7170 7050
Russell Fallis (Scottish Government) on +44 131 244 3054 or +44
7920 595 435
About the Carbon Trust:
We are independent experts with a mission to accelerate the move
to a low carbon economy.
- We advise businesses, government and the public sector on their
opportunities in a sustainable, low carbon world.
- We measure and certify the environmental impact footprint of
organisation, supply chains and product.
- We help develop and deploy low carbon technologies and
solutions, from energy efficiency to renewable power.