Andrew Tyler of MCT, the developer of the world’s only operational full-scale commercial tidal current turbine, has responded to the ROC banding review issued by the Department for Energy and Climate Change:
“We welcome the Government’s decision to offer the marine industry the level of support that it has committed to in today’s announcement, which comes at a crucial time for the sector. Investors need a clear signal that they will see a return on their investments, which 5 ROCs provides. This decision will ensure that the marine energy industry can begin to move towards commercial scale exploitation and that the UK can retain its position as a global leader. Presently, there are a number of technologies that are entering their development phase and they all need a large amount of new capital investment to take these projects to the commercial stage. MCT have already completed the development stage. Indeed, our SeaGen-S technology has been successfully delivering electricity to the grid since 2008 (in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland). To date the 1.2MW device has delivered close to 3GWh and is ready for commercial deployment. Today’s statement is a very positive step in our ambitions for us to roll out our tidal technologies in the UK and to see a marine industry take hold in the UK.”
[mappress]
Source: marineturbines, October 21, 2011