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.

Companies currently involved include Tension Technology in the testing of mooring systems, Aviation Enterprise for the optimisation of tidal turbine blade designs, MacTaggart Scott for the development of displacement and hydraulic generators and JP Array in investigating the feasibility of hydraulic arrays.

Mark Williamson, director of innovations at the Carbon Trust, said: ‘In the face of the economic downturn, these companies are at the forefront of an energy revolution that will see the creation of thousands of green-collar jobs and a boost to the UK’s economy.

‘Our targeted funding will accelerate the marine energy sector’s development and so speed its carbon-saving potential which is vital to us in staying within the UK’s carbon budgets.’