Wave and tidal

We are committed to working with industry and stakeholders to successfully exploit the UK's significant wave and tidal energy resources.

Overview

Overview

We are committed to working with industry, government and other stakeholders to help realise the UK's renewable energy and carbon reduction targets. A key part of this aim is to successfully exploit the country's significant wave and tidal energy resources.

Building on our experience in offshore wind energy and in response to increasing market interest, we have leased a number of areas of seabed for wave and tidal projects over the last few years. We are actively supporting development of these projects and continuing to lease further sites. Throughout the process, we are working closely with stakeholders, engaging with industry forums and co-ordinating our activities with other public bodies.

Objectives and activities

Objectives and activities

Our objectives

Our key objectives are to:

  • Support the growth of the emerging industry
  • Attract significant investment to the sector
  • Encourage major players to commit to development.

We are also helping government to define policies that support the development of the industry.

Our activities to date

To date, we have:

  • Provided leases for technology test and demonstration facilities off Orkney (the European Marine Energy Centre) and Cornwall (Wave Hub)
  • Leased sites for demonstration projects comprising arrays of generation devices around the UK; we are continuing to lease such sites
  • Held a leasing round for sites in the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters, resulting in eleven projects with a total potential capacity of 1,600 MW
  • Announced plans to invest £5.7m in enabling actions work to accelerate and de-risk the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters projects
  • Initiated further leasing in Scottish waters in connection with the Scottish Government's Saltire Prize
  • Consulted with the industry on leasing tidal projects in Northern Irish waters.