Wave & Tidal Power almost ready for mass consumption

Latest wave and tide machines being tested in Scottish waters expected to become commercially viable by 2015 by Severin Carrell (the Guardian).

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Wave and tidal power devices are close to producing electricity for mass consumption for the first time after a surge in investment, Alex Salmond has predicted.

 

The first minister said that the latest wave and tide machines being tested in Scottish waters were expected to become commercially viable by 2015 with several hundred megawatts of installed capacity, in a major breakthrough for the green energy industry.

Salmond's prediction came as it emerged that one developer, Aquamarine Power, which has one of the most advanced wave power machines being tested off Orkney, had won fresh investment of £7m in its latest design and pledges of another £18m by 2014.

Until now, the presumption was that wave and tidal power was still up to a decade away from full-scale production.

However, the first minister told a green energy investment conference in Edinburgh that: "In the next few years, the wave and tidal industry will move from demonstrator machines towards substantial commercial development."

Tidal and wave power was "the most exciting and powerful thing", he added as he opened the conference on Tuesday.

Salmond also announced a new £35m Scottish government fund to help up to seven companies find advanced designs for the next generation of ocean-based wind turbines for deep waters up to 20 miles offshore, with turbines three times larger than current designs.

"Scotland's potential as one of the green power houses for Europe is beyond question," he told conference delegates, who are due to be addressed on Wednesday by Al Gore. "We mustn't let transient but severe economic circumstances deter us from that goal."

Scotland, he said, had 25% of Europe's offshore wind and wave resource. Current offshore windfarms were simply "onshore wind turbines in a puddle", being sited just a mile off the coast. "We want these 20 miles offshore, where the wind really blows."

Wave and tidal energy is still expected to produce only a small fraction of the total renewable energy output. The Crown Estate and Marine Scotland have so far licensed only about 1,400mw of wave and tidal power for future development, compared with 7gw of onshore and offshore wind power already in production or development.

Scotland's current share of offshore renewable energy production is still relatively small. Salmond's strategy is based on rapidly increasing its stake and eventual overall share, to help hit his ambitious target to generate 100% of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

He believes Scottish wave and tidal energy firms could come to dominate the global industry. Aquamarine is also developing projects in Chilean waters, along the west coast of the US and Canada, and the west coast of Ireland.

Martin McAdam, Aquamarine's chief executive, said he believed his latest device, the 800kw Oyster wave machine, would be commercially viable by 2014. By the end of the decade, wave technology would be cheaper than offshore wind, he predicted.

"At the moment we're far too expensive [but] we will become more and more cost effective over time," he said. "As we move to 2020, we will get to a cost curve where we will be more competitive than wind."
Salmond's latest £35m offshore investment fund, the prototype offshore wind energy renewables support (Powers) fund, follows confirmation last week of a further £70m fund to develop green energy infrastructure. Industry and investment agency figures warn that up to £200bn is required by 2020 to realise the UK's full renewable energy potential.

The first minister conceded the industry overall still faces several significant barriers, including finding investors, protecting UK and Scottish government support through a levy on energy bills and making transmission charges on the National Grid much less expensive for Scottish power companies.