Carbon initiative

The Carbon Trust today announced a £1m research initiative to reduce marine energy costs, using innovative technology transferred from industries such as aviation, oil and gas.

The global estimated value of worldwide electricity revenues from wave and tidal projects is estimated to be between £60bn and £190bn a year.

According to the Carbon Trust, 20 per cent of the UK’s current electricity could be generated from marine energy.

However, generating marine energy comes at a high cost, with the key components used in wave and tidal energy devices making up around a third of the total device cost.

The Carbon Trust’s Marine Energy Accelerator aims to reduce costs in wave and tidal stream energy technologies by 20 per cent by 2020.

The research will include collaboration with academics and industrial groups from outside of the marine energy field.