Scotland's Economy

US marine energy conference recognises Scotland’s global lead

May 14, 2012 by Calum Davidson No Comments | Category Energy

After previously attending the Global Marine Renewable Energy Conference (GMREC) in Washington DC in 2010, I was asked this year to deliver a keynote speech.

Scotland’s global lead in marine renewable energy attracted international interest and this time around, there was a heightened awareness of Scotland’s global lead with most of the speakers referring to Scotland in their presentations. Woven through the entire conference was Scotland’s pre-eminence in the wave and tidal energy sectors.

There is definitely an even stronger recognition of Scotland’s place in this global market than there was two years ago when I last addressed the conference.

After my speech I spoke to many US companies wanting to know more about working in Scotland. And my colleague in Scottish Development International met with a range of US companies who are actively looking towards Scotland to take forward their developments.

I told the conference that according to recent research undertaken by Scottish Renewables, with 11,000 people directly employed in renewable energy in Scotland, the sector is employing more people than the Scottish whisky industry. The 550 people employed directly in the wave and tidal sectors, of which half are based within the Highlands and Islands, is equivalent in scale to over 30,000 jobs in the US.

Scotland is clearly leading the world in the development of this new global industry. We are the world centre for marine testing, with more devices deployed in Scottish waters than the rest of the world combined, and a growing cluster of Highlands and Islands companies supporting the marine renewables supply chain.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney is the world’s first and only grid connected wave and tidal test centre, and I informed delegates that its success was all about taking the long view.

The planning for EMEC started over 10 years ago, with the first Pelamis device deployed in 2004. Then it was three years before the next, Open Hydro’s tidal device, came on site. That’s a long time to run what is a quasi commercial business without real revenue. That’s why we in the public sector in Scotland needed to take the long view when making hard financial decisions, and of course keep a strong focus on the ultimate prize – that of Scotland being a global centre for the marine renewables industry.

All of EMEC’s 14 test berths are currently fully contracted and the number of wave and tidal devices deployed in Scotland, as evidence of the success of Scotland’s long-term view. These projects include the world’s first shoreline wave device, Wavegen’s Limpet on Islay; the world’s first offshore wave device, Pelamis; and the world’s first floating tidal device to generate electricity to the grid, Scotrenewables’ SR250 – all of which have been developed by Scottish marine developers.

In addition to the fantastic natural resources Scotland has, it is thanks to the fact that industry, academia and Government had worked so closely over the last decade that Scotland has the global lead in this sector.

Tags: EMEC, European Marine Energy Centre, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Renewables, wave and tidal energy

Comments