Government admits marine power fund has run aground

Plans undermined by admissions that it has not handed out any of a £50m marine development fund set up in 2004

Terry Macalister
The Observer, Sunday 19 July 2009
Government promises that it would establish Britain as a global centre for tidal and wave power have been undermined by admissions that it has not handed out any of a £50m marine development fund set up in 2004.
Companies have often complained that the rules for the Marine Renewable Deployment Fund (MRDF) are so demanding that they have struggled to get money from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to develop prototypes.
"As yet there have been no projects which have met the necessary requirements [of the MRDF]," the department told the Observer, but it insisted that changes made in the government's renewable energy strategy, published last week, would transform the situation.
A new Marine Renewables Proving Fund of £22m has been set aside to help marine power companies reach the stage where they would be eligible for MRDF money. The fund requires companies to demonstrate their prototype power systems have operated for at least three months before they can receive money.
Companies argued they needed funding earlier and the DECC has finally agreed. The department has also sought to make up ground by pumping £9.5m into the trial Wave Hub wave power system off Cornwall plus £8m for the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkneys.
In addition the marine power sector should benefit from £10m being put into the south-west, which is the UK's first low-carbon economic area.