- By Content Coms
- In Company, Useful Stuff
Greater marine energy research is lobbied for by Content Coms client
The energy market in the UK is now opening up to include marine renewables. Professor Peter Crossley, director of the Manchester-based Joule Centre for Energy Research, a Content Communications client, assesses the state of wave and tidal power in England in an opinion piece for leading renewable energy publication, New Energy Focus.
Professor Crossley says:
“Though the UK has traditionally thrown its weight behind wind power, the last year has seen wave and tidal power surge into prominence. There has been increased investment in marine technology and planning permission secured for commercial arrays, opening the door for tidal and wave power to become credible sources of clean energy in the near future. Most notably, in March, the Crown Estate announced the successful bidders for the world’s first commercial wave and tidal leasing round, for 10 sites in Scotland’s Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. The installed capacity proposed by the project is 1.2GW, which is enough electricity to meet the needs of up to three quarters of a million homes.
“However, is the industry for tidal and wave power well established enough to bring to fruition the UK’s marine energy potential? At this preliminary stage, many questions remain about how marine energy can be successfully – and profitably – extracted, stored and transmitted.”
