The UK’s renewable energy industry has got off to a flying start in 2012 with the announcement of several exciting initiatives to develop new and existing technologies. Offshore energy sources are the focus of two new research centres located at opposite ends of the UK – the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, which will be based at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, and the South West Marine Energy Park, which will cover a large area of coastline from Avonmouth to the Isles of Scilly. In addition, Scottish Enterprise is making £6m of competitive funding available for the development of wave and tidal energy sources off the Scottish coast.

The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and South West Marine Energy Park are expected to collaborate, with the former focusing on commercialising the renewable energy industry and the latter on researching and developing the technologies. Testing activities at Wave Hub, a new wave energy testing centre in Cornwall, will complement the work being done on new projects such as the Oyster 3 and Pelamis wave energy machines at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland.

Wilding says: ‘What a great start to the year for renewables. These new initiatives offer the perfect combination of academic research and technical expertise to move offshore energy projects to the next level, enabling newer technologies such as wave and tidal power to become industrialised and commercially viable. The UK has some of the best offshore energy resources in the world and it is now time to explore their full potential.’

Sources:The Engineer (1), The Engineer (2), BBC news