Nation is a leader in capturing tidal and wave energy, but companies are starting to leave due to lack of government support

Britain is throwing away its opportunity to rule the global wave and tidal energy sector due to lack of government support, a series of leading developers have told the Guardian.



The nation is currently seen as a world leader in capturing renewable energy from the oceans but some companies are already heading for new shores. This is putting other countries, such as France and Canada, in prime position to capitalise on the jobs being created by the emerging industry, the companies say.

Ocean energy is needed alongside other renewables to provide the huge amount of clean electricity that will be required to phase out fossil fuel use and fight climate change, proponents argue. Tidal energy has the particular advantage of being entirely reliable and the European Union predicts 100GW of ocean energy will be installed by 2050, the equivalent of 100 large conventional power stations.

But despite good UK government funding for research and development, support to put the devices into commercial use is now missing. Ministers are soon expected to reject a tidal barrage scheme in Swansea as too costly, but to back a new nuclear plant in Wales.

“I think the UK is making a huge mistake with this,” said Dr Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto, which has invested £25m to install subsea kites that harvest energy from the currents off Wales. “The UK is a world leader in this emerging industry and it is just giving it away.”

“The withdrawal of existing support systems – which are peanuts when compared to the huge [total] subsidies for the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant – leaves the industry without support,” he said. “I will just turn my back on the UK and go elsewhere.”

Sustainable Marine Energy, a British company that developed and tested its floating tidal turbines in Scotland, is now taking its device to Canada, citing “more support” from the government there. Another tidal turbine company, Atlantis, whose MeyGen project in Orkney is the world’s first large-scale tidal array connected to the grid, is looking to France, where a major government tender is expected in the coming months.

“I think France is sitting on a gold mine, whereas the UK has stalled,” said Drew Blaxland, at Atlantis. He said it is hard to understand the UK’s unwillingness to capitalise on the millions invested in research and development to date: “Why would you run a marathon and then stop at the stadium?”

A leading wave power developer, Corpower, has been testing its bobbing device at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney since January, where 20 companies have deployed new technologies. But Corpower may move after that. “We may go full scale in the UK, or we may go somewhere else,” said CEO, Patrik Möller. He is not confident of new UK support: “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Commercial scale tidal and wave power projects could get government subsidies until March 2017, but since then have only been able to apply to a “contracts for difference” (CfD) scheme open to all marine energy technologies. Offshore wind is a more mature industry and costs have fallen rapidly, meaning all the support has gone to these projects. Atlantis applied but did not win funding. “We just need 5% of the CfD pot to build an 80MW Meygen project,” said David Taafe, at Atlantis.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Workers preparing to tow a wave energy generator in the Orkney Isles. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Images From A Warming Planet

The tidal and wave developers argue that a mix of renewables is vital – for when the wind does not blow – for example. But new technologies require support to scale up, which is when economies of scale and learning drive costs down.

“It seems daft,” said one Scottish official: “The UK seems to have given up. France says it wants to be a world leader, Canada says it wants to be a world leader, but there can only be one world leader.’

“You have tidal and wave energy in Scotland and Wales, but Westminster [which controls subsidies] is not interested,” said Edlund. He said the UK had already failed to develop a significant domestic manufacturing industry in wind energy, despite an early lead – the largest wind turbine in the world in the 1980s was in Orkney: “You lost that one, now you are going to lose marine energy.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We want our renewable energy sector to continue to thrive which is why this government will invest over £2.5bn in low-carbon innovation by 2021. But clearly investment in new technology must represent value for money for the UK taxpayer as well as the consumer.”