ORKNEY & THE PENTLAND FIRTH SPOTLIGHT ON Sample Heading
FINANCE – TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
In parallel, we must continue to support technology development, for both wave and tidal sectors. Building any device which can operate reliably in our wild seas is a costly business. The sheer density of the power source means that machines, by their nature, must be big and robust and any testing programmes requires many millions of investment.
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FINANCE – CAPITAL INVESTMENT Persuading private capital to invest significant sums, at risk, is a tough ask, and as a public agency we need to think hard how we can leverage our limited budgets to best help investors and the industry as a whole.
This might involve radical new approaches – perhaps funding industry-wide solutions for power take off systems, mooring and cylinder seals, for example, could help a number of technologies make better progress. And are there ways we can help or persuade our oil and gas industry – a vast, hugely successful global industry headquartered here in Scotland – to become involved? Can we, for instance, help turn our supply chain into partners rather than just suppliers?
GRID CONNECTIONS
Thirdly, we need to address the lack of grid connections to our Scottish islands. Again, tremendous progress has been made and we welcome the special support for onshore wind announced by UK Energy Minister Ed Davey, but we still need to ensure that island links are built and that support, not just for transmission charges but for the significant securities and liabilities, is in place.
EUROPEAN MARINE ENERGY CENTRE (EMEC)
It is now more than 15 years since the idea of EMEC was formed, and it has been the spark which has catalysed our new industry. EMEC has itself become a local and global success, supporting over 200 jobs in a remote community, and helping build political will and enthusiasm around the world, with test centres in development in potential new markets such as Chile, Japan and Singapore.
THE TIME IS NOW
So, it has taken a long time to get to where we are today, and now is the time where real resolve is required. I think the UK has, in the past, had a tendency to lose heart in the face of new industrial challenges and to scale back from sunrise industries just at the point when other nations decide to step in.
The wind industry is one obvious example. We all know that British firms pioneered the early technologies and I can personally recall passing Howden’s yard in Glasgow’s Scotland Street on my daily route to college and seeing early turbines being built for export to California.
These were exciting times, when the UK had a real technology lead. Other countries, notably Denmark, sensed this potential and put in place a very favourable early tariff and grid regime which made their country a more attractive early market than the UK, and the rest as they say is history.
REALISING POTENTIAL I think we have learned from this, and have clear sight not only of the challenges facing the wave and tidal sector, but of the potential we hold. The next-generation nations, all now keen to build test centres and put supportive policies in place, have had their appetite’s whetted by our success and will, with a fair wind, be target markets in the decades ahead.
We have the possibility to shape these new markets, and build an industry on our own terms. It will not, as I said, be easy, but the marine energy industry has, and will continue to have, the unequivocal support of the Scottish Government and its agencies as it continues to develop and grow.
It is this kind of support which has enabled us to get so far, and will catalyse the next exciting phase of our industry’s journey.
Calum Davidson Director of Energy Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Click to view more info = Click to view video
www.wavetidalenergynetwork.co.uk
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