Swimmers play in the sea during a hot day at the West Beach in St Andrews, east Scotland July 21, 2008. REUTERS/David Moir

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The Scottish government announced a 10 million pound ($14.94 million) prize for new wave or tidal power technologies on Tuesday as part of the country’s renewable energy drive.

First Minister Alex Salmond announced details of the international “Saltire Prize” at a ceremony in Edinburgh castle.

The prize is intended “to push the frontiers of innovation in clean, green marine renewable energy,” he said ahead of the ceremony.

Salmond said Scotland could enjoy a quarter of Europe’s total marine power potential and described the turbulent waters off the northern Scottish mainland as “our Saudi Arabia of renewable marine energy.”

The prize will be awarded to the team that can demonstrate the best commercially viable wave or tidal energy technology in Scottish waters that produces at least 100 gigawatt hours (GWh) over a two-year period using only the power of the sea.

Scotland’s chief scientific adviser and head of the prize committee, Anne Glover, said the competition would open in the summer of 2009 and close by June 2013.

Scotland hopes to get half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.