Strategy and National Targets
The UK Government established a new UK Marine Energy Programme in January 2011, which is focusing on enhancing the UK marine energy sector’s ability to develop and deploy wave and tidal energy devices at a commercial scale.
The key areas that the Marine Energy Programme will focus on are:

• Support needed for small scale arrays and early commercial deployment;
• Planning and consenting issues;
• Knowledge sharing though a Marine Intelligence Network.

The Marine Energy Programme Board, which draws together key stakeholders from across the marine energy sector (energy utilities, industrial companies, technology developers, financiers and Devolved Administrations), will play a central role in advising Ministers what actions the Programme should address to advance the industry.

The Coalition Government has set out a real vision for marine energy in the UK to encourage the clustering of activities through marine energy parks, which aims to bring together manufacturing, expertise and other activities to drive the marine sector forward to commercialisation. The South West and Caithness & Orkney are developing proposals for Marine Energy Parks to be established in their regions that meet their particular needs.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) UK Renewable Energy Roadmap published in July 2011 estimates that, in “central range” modelling, commercial scale deployment would reach in the order of 200-300MW by 2020 (lower than some previous estimates). However, recent estimates still support large potential for wave and tidal stream post-2020 – perhaps 27GW (9-43GW)  by 2050.

SCOTLAND
To accelerate the progress towards the commercial deployment of wave and tidal stream projects – this activity will focus on the leased sites totalling 1.6 GW within the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters and the other leased areas around Scotland.

WALES
Based on Wales’ natural advantages in areas such as wind and marine renewable resources, our aim will be to generate up to twice as much electricity annually from renewables by 2025 as we use today with about 40% of this from marine.

NORTHERN IRELAND
In March 2011, The Crown Estate announced the process for the first Offshore Renewable Energy Leasing Round in Northern Ireland (NI) waters and sought developers views on how best Northern Ireland’s resource could be developed. In December 2011, The Crown Estate sought Expressions of Interest from developers for within two parallel leasing rounds for offshore wind (up to 600MW) and tidal st eam (200MW). It is expected that development rights could be offered by the summer of 2012 and that projects would be taken forward to contribute to the Northern Ireland 2020 target of renewable electricity consumption of 40% by 2020.

Support Initiatives and Market Stimulation Incentives 
The UK Government’s main market support mechanism is through the Renewables Obligation (RO).  Following its banding review, the Government launched its public “Consultation on proposals for the level of banded support under the Renewables Obligation for the period 2013-17” for England and Wales, on 20 October 2011. The Government is proposing to introduce 5 ROCs for wave and tidal stream energy up to a 30MW project cap for deployment in the period to 2017. The new bands will come into effect on 1 April 2013.

This RO banding review is specifically set for the deployment from 2013 to 2017. Beyond 2017, it is the intention that marine technologies will continue to be supported via the proposed FiT (feed-in tariff) with a Contract for Difference support mechanism, which the UK is introducing under Electricity Market Reform, which should provide greater clarity and long-term vision for investors. The public consultation has now closed. 

In June 2011, the Department announced it is investing up to £20 million in a Marine Energy Array Demonstrator (MEAD) scheme to help support the demonstration of arrays of wave and tidal devices, building on the Department’s previous £22 million Marine Renewable Proving Fund and other Government support. The scheme is expected to open in the spring of 2012 and, subject to a value for money assessment, will support up to two projects to test prototypes in array formations – the final development stage in generating large scale electricity from marine power prior to commercial roll out.

SCOTLAND
The Scottish Government has consulted on plans to increase the incentives available for tidal energy generation through the Renewable Obligation Scotland banding review. The proposal is to equalise the incentives for wave and tidal stream at 5 ROCs per MWh. The Scottish Government has now announced further funding through an £18 million Marine Commercialisation Fund to support the deployment of the first commercial arrays in Scotland. The scheme will be launched early in 2012.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Invest NI, DETI’s economic development body, is working with ReGen South West, Scottish Highland and Islands and Renewable UK to develop a UK-wide supply chain model for wave and tidal energy based on The Crown Estate supply chain model for offshore wind energy. It is expected that the model will be agreed by the Spring of 2012.

Main Public Funding Mechanisms
The Energy Generation and Supply Knowledge Transfer Network (http://ktn.innovateuk.org/web/energyktn) should be the first port of call for enquiries about funding and other opportunities. However,
brief summaries of some of the organisations that support innovation at its different stages are given below:

• the Research Councils UK Energy Programme provides funding for basic strategic and applied research into a wide range of technology areas: http://www.rcukenergy.org.uk/
   
• The Technology Strategy Board supports medium-size research and development projects using technology-specific research calls: http://www.innovateuk.org/
   
• The Energy Technologies Institute is a public-private partnership that invests in developing full-system solutions to long term energy challenges:
  http://www.lowcarboninnovation.co.uk/EnergyTechnologiesInstitute.aspx 
   
• The Carbon Trust offers a wide range of support for low carbon innovation mainly in the pre-market arena: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/Pages/Default.aspx

SCOTLAND
The Scottish Government continues to provide significant support for the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy projects in Scotland. Projects receiving support through the £13 million WATERS are making good progress and those supported through the previous WATES scheme have now concluded.

WALES
The main source for large funding in Wales, both revenue and capital, is via the Convergence & Competitiveness Fund administered by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) on behalf of the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government is in discussion with the EU Commission to consider a structural fund programme post 2013 and how it might support the sector.

Relevant Legislation and Regulation
The Government concluded in its Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment (OESEA2) that there are no overriding environmental considerations to prevent the leasing of wave and tidal energy devices, provided that appropriate measures are implemented that prevent, reduce and offset significant adverse impacts on the environment and other users of the sea. The OESEA2 opens up the whole of UK waters for potential deployment of marine energy devices.

SCOTLAND

• Renewable Obligation (Scotland) Act

WALES

• Marine and Coastal Access Act
• EU Convergence Funding Legislation

NORTHERN IRELAND

• The Department of the Environment progressed proposals for the NI Marine Bill for devolved marine environmental issues and it is planned to introduce the Bill to the NI Assembly in 2012.

Relevant Documents Released

SCOTLAND

• Consultation on Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Banding Review

WALES

• Welsh Government Energy Policy Statement: Low Carbon Revolution (March 2010) NORTHERN IRELAND
• During 2011 and to facilitate the TCE Crown Estate leasing Round, DETI published Offshore Regional Locational Guidance to assist regulators, developers and stakeholders. 

Government Funded R&D

The Supergen Marine consortium secured continuation funding for Phase 3, supporting a further five years of research from October 2011. The consortium brings together the core Universities of Edinburgh, Queen’s Belfast, Strathclyde and Exeter as well as several associate Universities. Supergen Marine will conduct world-class fundamental and applied research that assists the marine energy sector to accelerate deployment and provide the highest quality of doctoral training. Further information can be found at: www.supergen-marine.org.uk/drupal/

The Technology Strategy Board, in partnership with Scottish Enterprise and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), are investing over £10 million in new research and development to help demonstrate that wave and tidal energy can be generated at scale, and with lower energy production costs.

Marine Energy – Supporting Array Technologies is a competition for collaborative R&D funding that will support the applied research, experimental development and demonstration of innovative technologies that solve common issues faced by those developing and deploying the first marine energy arrays. The competition will seek proposals for research and development projects that address themes such as: tidal array cabling, subsea electrical hubs, installation and maintenance vessels for tidal arrays, navigation and collision avoidance and anti-fouling & corrosion. There is also an Open theme for projects that target common marine energy challenges not covered by the above themes.

The competition opens on 5 March 2012. The deadline for registration is 10 April 2012 and expressions of interest must be submitted by 17 April 2012. See more at http://www.innovateuk.org/content/our-focus-areas/energy-generation-and-supply/marine-energy-supporting-array-technologies.ashx

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) announced plans to take wave energy to the next level with a project to design and demonstrate a low-cost wave energy converter system. The project will be commissioned in two phases, the first providing a fully detailed design concept for a wave energy converter system capable of delivering at least 10MW of power before a second phase where the new innovations are developed and demonstrated at full-scale at sea. It will also assess the potential market opportunities of the technologies in the UK and abroad. It is expected that the project will start in summer 2012 with the first phase lasting approximately 12 months. Further information can be found at:www.eti.co.uk/request_for_proposals/view/18

The new 3MW marine drive train test rig “Nautilus”, which is currently under construction at the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec), will become operational during 2012. Narec will perform accelerated lifetime testing of whole nacelles and their individual drivetrain components, such as gearboxes, generators and bearings for wind and tidal turbine devices. It is planned that the facility, once operational, will perform the testing of turbines in accordance with IEC and ISO standards or customer requirements and that the facilities will achieve ISO17025 accreditation by The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) once certification standards for controlled environment testing are finalised.

SCOTLAND
The £13 million WATERS programme is ongoing. 

WALES 
The Assembly Government has recently published the findings of its 3 year project, the Marine Renewable Energy Strategic Framework (MRES). The MRES project has investigated the potential marine energy resource areas within Welsh Territorial Waters by device type, identified the associated constraints tied to those areas and considered potential scenarios for the sustainable development of the available resource.

The MRES is an aid to development, ensuring Wales gets the right device in the right place, providing developers with key information to inform EIAs and, by carrying out the constraints work, helping to reduce the consenting risk for developers. The findings show that even when the various environmental and technological constraints are taken into account, there is still the potential for Welsh waters to produce enough energy to power up to two million homes per year.

Participation in Collaborative International Projects
The UK is a member of the EU Member State Ocean Energy Interest Group, which has recently published a report “Towards European industrial leadership in Ocean Energy in 2020”in collaboration with the European Ocean Energy Association, calling for funding and support from the EU Commission to drive forward marine energy. The report is a high level statement of our collective willingness to work together and cooperate in this technology area and also of our keenness to form a strategic partnership with the European Commission, to achieve a strong European ocean energy industry and capability to secure low carbon, jobs, skills and growth.

The ORECCA (Offshore Renewable Energy Conversion Platform Coordination Action) Project is an EU FP7 funded collaborative project.

SCOTLAND
Four Scottish-based bids are currently being assessed by the European Investment Bank for support through the NER 300 programme for deployment of early stage commercial arrays.

WALES
Wales is a member of the Renewable Energy Regions Network (RENREN), which aims to identify policy choices that will improve regional frameworks for renewable energy expansion. 14 partners from across Europe are collaborating to this end, since regions will play a big part in helping the EU and its member states achieve their 2020 renewable energy targets and related greenhouse gas reduction targets. Wales’ specialism within RENREN is ocean energy. 

Operational Ocean Energy Projects

At EMEC:

• Pelamis P2 750 kW Machine (Commissioned by Eon) installed
• Pelamis P2 750 kW Machine (Commissioned by Scottish Power Renewables) installed
• Aquamarine Power Limited – Oyster 800 Stage 1 installed
• Wello Oy Penguin 500 kW wave converter installed
• Open Hydro 250kW Open Centred tidal turbine deployed
• Open Hydro – 600kW turbine deployed (not grid connected)
• Tidal Generation Ltd 500kW tidal turbine deployed
• Atlantis Resources Corporation AR1000 1 MW tidal turbine deployed
• Scotrenewables SR250 floating tidal turbine deployed
• Hammerfest Strom 1MW tidal turbine deployed
• Voith Hydro tidal turbine

Projects at other locations:

• MCT/ SeaGen (Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland) - deployed and operational since 2008
• Limpet Oscillating Column (Islay, SW Scotland) - deployed and operational since 2001
• Pulse Tidal (mouth of the River Humber) - deployed their 100kW “Pulse-Stream 100” in 2009. 

New Developments
Following £8 million of UK Government investment, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) commissioned three new grid connect berths (2 tidal and 1 wave) and opened its two nursery sites (1 wave and 1 tidal with 2 berths each). Already a number of developers are contracted to use the scale test site facility to deploy their devices www.emec.org.uk/

Planned deployments at EMEC:

• Seatricity wave energy converter – deploying in the Spring of 2012.
• Kawasaki Heavy Industries tidal turbine – deploying in 2013.
• Bluewater tidal technology – deploying in 2012.

Neptune Renewable Energy – deployment of 500kW prototype has recently started piling work in the Humber to prepare for the deployment of the Neptune Proteus, a tidal stream power device, in 2012. 

Falmouth Harbour Commissioners (FHC) have signed a lease to create FabTest, a new wave energy ‘nursery’ test site in Falmouth Bay on the south coast of Cornwall. FabTest, which is not grid-connected, offers a preconsented area in Falmouth Bay licensed to test up to three devices and will enable wave energy generation device developers to conduct sea trials of their devices in moderate seas, close to por facilities. It is a stepping stone to the deployment of arrays of devices at the Wave Hub testing facility off the Cornish coast. The management of the site will be undertaken by a partnership between FHC and the University of Exeter.

The Government published its conclusions and evidence from its Severn Tidal Power feasibility study in October 2010, i.e. the Government does not see a strategic case for public investment in a tidal scheme in the Severn at the present time, and has not carried out further work in this area since then. However, several private sector consortia are still interested in developing a tidal scheme in the Severn, and a group known as Corlan Hafren (Severn Holdings), led by Halcrow and Arup, have been the most active. They submitted a business case to the Government in November 2011, based on a very low head barrage with innovative contra-rotating turbines, and this is currently being discussed with the government.

Feasibility studies have recently been carried out into the potential for tidal range schemes in a number of other estuaries and bays around the UK. In June 2010, Peel Energy published its final report into Mersey Tidal Power, and concluded that the cost of energy was too high to take forward in the short term, considering current Government support mechanisms. Solway Energy Gateway has also been taking forward its plans for a tidal energy scheme in the Solway Firth with an innovative hybrid technology developed by Verderg under the Severn Energy Technologies Scheme (SETS).

There are also plans for a pilot coastally attached tidal lagoon near Llandudno in North Wales, and for a small offshore lagoon in Swansea Bay. Other estuaries, which developers are still actively looking at, are the Wyre and the Duddon in the North West of England and the Loughor in South Wales.

SCOTLAND
The 10MW Islay tidal array project, being taken forward by Scottish Power Renewables and Hammerfest Strom, secured its consent during 2011 – the process was completed by Marine Scotland within 9 months. 

WALES
Recently, the Welsh Assembly & the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have announced the granting of the necessary consents for a 1.2MW tidal demonstrator device in Ramsey Sound off Pembrokeshire. This will be the first deployment of a marine device in Wales and the first in the UK to operate on a ‘deploy and monitor’ approach, allowing the device to operate around the clock. The evidence collated from the demonstration will provide the much needed field data and will be released into the public domain to move the industry forward.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Swedish company Minesto announced in September 2011 that it would be testing a scale prototype of its tidal device in Strangford Lough in NI waters. Supported by The Carbon Trust, the innovative device is described as a “moving kite “rather than an underwater wind turbine.