A senior Department for Energy and Climate Change official yesterday said the UK was at risk of losing its world lead in the wave and tidal markets.
Trevor Raggatt, head of small-scale and emerging renewables at DECC’s office for renewable energy deployment, told delegates at the All-Energy conference in Aberdeen that Britain remained ahead of the curve in developing marine energy technology but its lead was “fragile.”
He said the industry was in a crucial phase in the UK and had to move from the development and testing of generation devices to full commercialisation.
“Our roadmap set out an initial vision and schedule,” Mr Raggatt said. “It would be nice to see us hitting projections for deployment but we are really reaching a critical time now. We need to take the step from single devices through to getting multiple devices in the water.”
He said other countries were making significant progress with marine energy strategies and it was imperative the UK capitalised on its position.
“We continue to be a world leader in the UK but that is a fragile lead as others in the world are starting to look carefully at this area. We have seen a push by France, for example.”
He added: “The UK is in a good position but we need to make sure we keep that momentum.”
There are 10 wave and tidal devices in UK waters more than anywhere else globally and the Scottish Government and Marine Scotland this week gave permissions to Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power to develop the world’s largest single commercial wave array in Atlantic waters off the Isle of Lewis.
Mr Raggatt said the UK Marine Energy Programme Board (MEPB) had been central to the development of the sector so far, through such contributions as the evidence it collated during the Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) banding review.
But he said the MEPB was undergoing a restructuring to increase its industry engagement to ensure as many voices as possible were listened to as the sector matured.
Key to that progress will be the move from ROC support for renewable projects to Contracts for Difference under Electricity Market Reform (EMR), a staged process that will be ostensibly complete by 2017. Under EMR, DECC is due to publish draft strike prices and an initial delivery plan in July, with final determinations by the end of this year.
Mr Raggatt, who suggested that the MEPB may start viewing wave and tidal technologies as separate entities in future, said the industry had to push the boundaries or risk losing its commercial advantage.