UK launches Marine Energy Action Plan
The MEAP has been developed jointly by Government and industry to drive the marine energy sector forward. Photo by Peter Barker.
Harnessing the full potential of marine energy could provide enough power for up to 15m homes and save up to 70m tons of C02 by 2050 according to the UK Government’s Marine Energy Action Plan (MEAP), which was released last week.
The document also highlights the potential for the marine energy sector to provide up to 16,000 jobs, with a quarter of these in exports.
Launching the plan at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, home of Marine Current Turbine’s 1.2MW SeaGen turbine, the world’s first operating, commercial scale tidal stream turbine, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Minister of State for Energy said, ‘Harnessing the power of our seas will help us reduce our carbon emissions, provide clean, green, secure and reliable energy, create jobs and provide export opportunities.
‘This Action Plan sets out our vision for what marine energy can do for the UK and what we need to do to make it happen. I look forward to working with industry and other partners to get the most out of our waters and build a new, world leading energy generation sector in the UK.’
The Plan, which has been developed by Government jointly with industry, sets out the actions needed to drive the marine energy sector forward. Key recommendations include the forming of a UK-wide strategic coordination group to develop a planning and consenting roadmap for all types of marine renewable. It will consider support levels for marine technologies under the review of banding of the Renewables Obligation in the autumn and ensuring that the appropriate levels of targeted funding are available to bridge the technology market failures that exist in this developing sector, subject to the budgets in the next public spending round. It will leverage private equity, and in the longer term, project capital into the sector whilst establishing guidelines and best practice in the development of new technologies. Finally, it will address the building of a UK marine energy supply chain and utilisation of the current skills base already established from the offshore wind, oil and gas, and maritime industries.
Lord Hunt also announced the establishment of a Ministerial Task Force on Marine Energy, which will bring together key players to oversee future work on the MEAP.
Renewable UK, until recently the British Wind Energy Association, was quick to launch its official response, in which it said that on the basis of the level of support required to fund the Danish onshore wind and Japanese solar industries, the UK Government will need to commit in the region of £1 billion over the course of the next decade to secure a global market share of the rapidly emerging marine energy industry.
Commenting on the MEAP, RenewableUK chief executive Maria McCaffery said, ‘With the publication of the Marine Energy Action Plan), the Government’s renewable energy policy has taken a significant step forward. MEAP creates, for the first time, an opportunity for the public and private sectors to discuss the key actions required to develop the UK marine energy industry.
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