Scotland to take lead in marine energy drive

Published Date: 21 December 2008
By Rosemary Gallagher

THE cost of marine energy will be slashed by 20%, with Scotland leading the way through its expertise in oil and gas, according to the Carbon Trust.
The trust, an independent company set up by the Government to tackle climate change, is investing £1m in five organisations to research component technology for marine energy, such as turbine blades and hydraulic power networks. Three of the five organisations are Scottish. They are MacTaggart Scott, an engineering firm in Edinburgh, Edinburgh University, and J P Kenny, part of the John Wood Group in Aberdeen.The research initiative is part of a wider Carbon Trust programme to drive down costs in the marine energy sector and make marine power a commercial reality by 2020. It said that energy from wave and tidal power could provide up to 20% of the UK's current electricity and had the potential to cut carbon dioxide emissions by tens of millions of tonnes. The global estimated value of worldwide electricity revenues from wave and tidal stream projects is potentially between £60bn and £190bn a year. However, the cost of generating marine energy is high compared with other forms of more conventional generation. Components used in wave and tidal energy devices can form as much as a third of the total device cost. The overall objective is to reduce the cost of marine energy by up to one fifth over the next 12 years.Mark Williamson, director of innovations at the Carbon Trust, said: "In the face of the economic downturn, these companies are at the forefront of an energy revolution that will see the creation of thousands of green collar jobs and a boost to the UK's economy." The Carbon Trust added that Scotland had the ideal combination of natural resources and oil and gas technology for generating marine energy cost-effectively.Edinburgh University will research wave power devices, J P Kenny will investigate hydraulics for power transmission from wave and tidal farms to the shore and MacTaggart Scott will focus on developing reliable, low-cost hydraulic generators.Alan Bevan, business development manager at MacTaggart Scott, said it was adapting its 110 years' traditional marine engineering experience to work in renewable energy. He said a big advantage was that its machinery could remain effective under water without maintenance for up to 20 years.The Carbon Trust's Marine Energy Accelerator programme is funded by the UK Environmental Transformation Fund, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and Invest Northern Ireland.MPUMinCharsCutOff:210 PageLength:2411MPUPositionFromStart:250 MPUPositionRange:1000hasVideoOrImage:False--->