The UK Government announced allocation of £20m to engineering and environmental companies for projects aimed at development of tidal and wind energy, EDP 24 published.
Apart from mere production of power, these include projects targeted at design and manufacture of indispensable technology in addition to conducting various types of research, necessary to boost the sector. Development of necessary technology will mean lower installations costs and faster advancement of the industry.
The application procedure is open until June 1 and the names of the winners, with up to two projects sharing, will be disclosed before the end of the year.
According to Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker : “the cash will help move marine power to the next stage of development and closer to achieving the ambition of powering homes and businesses with electricity generated from waves and tides.”
East England region abounds in renewable energy resources, especially the Norfolk coast. The idea behind the Government’s £20m project is to take the marine industry one step further and attract pre-commercial projects to the area, which would eventually pave the way for the industry to become commercial and attract investors. In concrete, these would include research studies on how wave and/or tidal devices operate in “array formation” – rows or columns – over a period of time.
“For the eastern region it’s a huge opportunity. We can be world leaders and our businesses and people locally can build on that with jobs in that industry, even just researching it. Everybody thinks East Anglia is a sleepy, agricultural region. But if we look at the high-technology businesses in Norwich, software in Ipswich, medicine in Cambridge and energy in Great Yarmouth we are a forward-thinking, high-technology area and we need to remind the rest of the world what we are doing,” Brandon Lewis, Great Yarmouth MP pointed out.
Taking into account the intention of the Government to harness the renewable energy resources in to the fullest, it is expected for the marine power to provide up to 20% of the UK’s current electricity demand.
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Offshore WIND staff, April 11, 2012; Image: brandonlewis