Marine energy costs set to decrease over next 10 years

According to analysis released today by the Carbon Trust, this could happen as soon as 2025, once cost reductions from deploying the first gigawatt of energy devices have been realised.

Through its Marine Energy Accelerator programme, the Carbon Trust says it has established that the costs for the first wave and tidal energy farms will be around £0.30–£0.40/Kwh, which is expected given the early stage of the technologies’ development.

The report concludes that, with continued and targeted innovation, reductions in costs can be achieved in the next 10 years. 

The report also quantifies the amount of energy that can be tapped and sets out the actions now needed to set the industry on a path to commercial success.

The analysis shows that wave energy could generate 50TWh of electricity per year, equivalent to 13 per cent of the UK’s power needs, and tidal stream 20.6TWh per year, or five per cent of UK power needs. Between them, wave and tidal stream could generate more electricity than 12 large coal-fired power stations.