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RenewableUK welcomes announcement of first Marine Energy Park

24 January 2012

  • South West England to harbour unique partnership of Government, industry and experts to increase pace of marine energy deployment

  • “Fantastic potential” of Wave & Tidal power which could produce up to 27 gigawatts of electricity by 2050

  • UK leads the world in Wave & Tidal energy – first Marine Energy Park will help maintain that global pre-eminence

RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave & tidal industry, has welcomed the announcement by Climate Change Minister Greg Barker of the UK’s first Marine Energy Park (MEP).

Covering an area stretching from Bristol to Cornwall as far as the Isles of Scilly, the MEP will be a partnership between local and national Government, Local Enterprise Partnerships, the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter, and the wave & tidal industry – including the Wave Hub testing facility off the coast of Cornwall.

RenewableUK’s Wave & Tidal Development Manager, David Krohn, said: “Marine energy has fantastic potential, not just as a clean power source, but as a boost to our economy too. Our research has shown that a properly supported marine sector could generate up to 15,000 jobs by 2021 and have a value to the UK of over £3.7 billion.

“The UK currently leads the world in wave & tidal development, and we have world-beating resources. We need to capitalise on this opportunity now, and the first Marine Energy Park represents an important first step in this process.”

-ENDS-

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Notes:

  1. RenewableUK is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with more than 700 corporate members, RenewableUK is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change.

  2. RenewableUK’s report ‘Channelling the Energy’ covers the economic benefits to the UK of wave & tidal power. Our employment projections can be found in our ‘Working for a Green Britain Volume 2’ report.