The report outlines significant progress in the past year, whilst calling for sustained policy support to match the urgency of the task ahead
The Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with the Supergen ORE Hub, Wave Energy Scotland and the Marine Energy Council, have announced the publication of their annual UK Ocean Energy Review.
2024 has been a year of marked progress for the ocean energy sector, with its important role in our future decarbonised energy system being increasingly recognised. With an increasing number of ocean energy projects being deployed in British waters, the results of decades worth of innovation, funding and sector development are beginning to come to fruition. Targeted policy measures including the expanded tidal stream Contracts for Difference ringfence fund and sustained innovation support for the wave energy sector have underlined the great potential of these technologies to support the transition to clean energy. The report aims to highlight the progress the sector has made in the past year, by providing updates on the advances made by the UK's world-leading technology developers, its cutting-edge R&D projects, and its internationally renowned test centres.
However, the ocean energy sector still requires substantial policy support, innovative development, and continued funding to achieve the cost reductions needed for wave and tidal stream devices to compete with other renewable energy sources.
This government is on a mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower. With 130 MW of tidal stream on course to be deployed in UK waters by 2029, it’s clear that tidal stream will play a growing role in the 2030 energy mix, but with even greater potential when it comes to longer-term decarbonisation targets. I am [also] pleased to see the progress made by the wave energy sector over the last few years, particularly in research and innovation. While the sector is still emerging, it certainly has the promise to make a significant contribution to our future energy mix. Finally, I want to extend my thanks to the various stakeholders who have contributed to the excellent progress made by wave and tidal stream over the last 12 months.
I'm delighted to see that the pipeline of tidal stream projects awarded through the CfD scheme has now expanded to over 120MW, which will ensure that the sector makes a meaningful contribution to the UK's 2030 clean power targets. Similarly, the progress made by the wave energy sector should not be overlooked, with recent analysis showing the potential to create over 15,000 jobs across both these sectors in 2050, enabling UK ocean energy to punch far above its weight in terms of contributing to national Just Transition commitments. Of course, it must be remembered that for the sector to achieve these outcomes on the desired timescales we will need to move away from a business-as-usual approach and ensure that serious policy support is delivered rapidly and in a sustained fashion"
This report is an expansion of the UK chapter originally featured in the International Energy Agency Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) Annual Report, written by the Policy and Innovation Group in collaboration with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.
The report was produced by Kristofer Grattan, Donald R. Noble and Henry Jeffrey from the Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh. This report was possible thanks to the input of organisations including the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Supergen ORE Hub, Wave Energy Scotland, Marine Energy Council, European Marine Energy Centre and many more.
