RenewableUK welcomed new research by the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Journal, the publishing arm of the Royal Society made up of a collection of experts from different policy backgrounds, which highlights the huge potential of tidal power in the UK.
With RenewableUK’s Wave and Tidal Annual Conference coming up next month, the findings are a timely reminder of the huge opportunity marine energy affords in providing a viable route to energy independence.
The UK has a marine potential unmatched in Europe, and has the foundations of a flourishing offshore sector already in place, with more tidal stream devices installed than the rest of the world combined. Recent progress in particular is noted by The Royal Society, which says “while technologies harnessing energy from the tides and currents have been discussed for many years, it is evident from recent deployment of single devices at megawatt scale that real progress has been achieved in a very short period of time”.
Nick Medic, RenewableUK Director of Offshore Renewables said:
“The publication of these findings is a timely reminder of the huge technological advances being made in the development of offshore renewables. These strides forward should allow us to build on our position as a world leader in offshore renewables and to create an unparalleled supply of sustainable energy – one that will provide close to 10% of UK’s electricity demand from offshore alone within the next 5 years, promoting our energy independence and helping us meet our climate change targets”.
“Government’s policy must create and maintain a positive framework which will enable UK’s offshore renewables’ sector to retain its global pre-eminence” .
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Press release, January 15, 2013; Image: royalsocietypublishing