MPs Report on Potential for UK to Lead Marine Renewable Energy Sector
The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee has published a report on ‘The Future of Marine Renewables in the UK.’ The report highlights the huge environment and economic benefits to the UK of a strong marine renewable sector. It concludes that if the Government adopts a visionary approach, as well as establishing a stable and consistent policy framework, the UK could become a leading exporter of wave and tidal power equipment and expertise, helping to create tens of thousands of new jobs.
The environmental benefits are, of course significant: it is estimated that marine renewable energy could provide 20 per cent of current UK electricity demand. This would lead to a saving of approximately 61 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050. However, the report concludes that it is unlikely that marine renewable energy will make a significant contribution to the UK’s energy mix before 2020. The priority, therefore, over the next decade should be to focus on reducing the cost of marine renewables and preparing the UK to take advantage of the expanding global markets in this area.
Seven of the eight full-scale prototype wave and tidal stream technologies installed worldwide are now in the UK. This creates a huge opportunity. The Carbon Trust has recently estimated that the global market for marine could be worth £340 billion (in 2050) and that the UK’s share of this could be worth £76 billion. The industry estimates that this could lead to the creation of 10,000 direct jobs by 2020 – the Carbon Trust has estimated that there could be as many as 68,000 UK-based jobs by 2050. If the UK can develop a strong domestic marine renewable energy sector, it will be in a position to export into the expanding global market. These markets are beginning to emerge in Canada, the USA, Korea and New Zealand.
The report warns that an overly cautious approach to developing the technology could allow other less risk-averse countries to steal the UK’s lead, as they did in the wind energy sector. Denmark, for example, supported its domestic wind power industry in the 1980s and by 2003 had emerged with almost 40% of the wind turbine market. The report calls for “strong political vision” to ensure the UK can reap the rewards of a successful marine renewable energy industry.
In addition to political vision, the report concludes that private sector investment will be crucial if these opportunities are to be exploited, particularly given the limited amount of public support available. The total amount of funding available to support low-carbon technologies is small; the Department for Energy and Climate Change has a total of £200 million to dedicate to low carbon innovation. DECC has so far allocated 10% (£20 million) of its Low Carbon Innovation Fund to marine energy and the Government recently consulted on proposals to increase the level of support offered through the Renewable Obligation.
The report highlights four key factors that could help attract investment:
- Putting in place a stable and consistent policy framework.
- Confidence that there will be a future market – the report highlights the importance of ensuring that investors have the confidence that there will be a long term, viable market for the technology.
- Risk sharing – the cost and risk associated with developing wave and tidal technologies is currently too high for private investment to bear alone. The report recommends that the Government help to reduce the risk by agreeing to take on some of the costs involved.
- Removal of other barriers, such as inconsistencies in the planning system, lack of grid connections, lack of manufacturing sites, lack of installation support infrastructures and lack of technology development support.
The report also concludes that the development of marine renewable energy must not happen at the expense of marine biodiversity. It calls on the Government to carry out a baseline survey of potentially sensitive areas to avoid costly changes in plans occurring when a developer finds out that an area is environmentally sensitive late in the development process.
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