
New Report Highlights Significant Economic Potential of Marine Energy
The Future Economic Potential of Tidal Stream and Wave Energy in Scotland report – published today by the University of Edinburgh (UoE) and commissioned by Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Wave Energy Scotland (WES) – reveals the size of the potential economic prize for Scotland if the correct steps are taken to ensure it remains the world-leading destination for developing marine energy
Findings include the potential for tidal stream and wave energy projects in the UK to deliver more than £8bn in economic benefits to the Scottish economy by 2050 if we retain our leadership position until then, supporting more than 15,000 jobs, including high-value employment in coastal communities and the Highlands and Islands.
It presents a scenario where there is an estimated Scottish market for up to 8.8GW of marine energy by 2050, with potential deployments of up to 12.6GW throughout the UK and up to 300GW globally. The report states this could deliver up to 62,000 jobs in Scottish companies in 2050, comprised of 15,600 jobs in the UK, plus a further 46,000 jobs from worldwide exports. The global export market for marine energy over the same timeframe could be worth as much as £28bn to Scotland’s economy.
The report – authored by The Policy and Innovation Group, part of the Institute for Energy Systems at UoE – combines the findings of separate reports on tidal stream and wave energy commissioned by SE and WES respectively.
Scotland already has significant advantages in marine, including abundant natural resources, enterprise agencies such as SE and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) with expertise in supporting and growing the sector, and a decade of WES investment in wave energy and subcomponents with £50m awarded across 132 contracts. It is also home to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), the world’s first and leading facility for demonstrating and testing wave and tidal energy converters for the last 20 years.
The report highlights these advantages but emphasises that there is work to be done between now and 2050 if we are to retain that lead and reap the economic rewards. It recommends further investment in the supply chain, ongoing market support for marine companies, continued investment in existing innovation support organisations and further development of essential infrastructure (such as the grid) as key areas of focus for policy makers, to ensure Scotland remains the global location of choice for marine developers.
Additionally, supporting the sector will help advance Scotland’s just transition and net zero goals as well as strengthening UK energy security. Key opportunities for the supply chain include areas where Scotland is currently in line with or ahead of the market, such as development and testing of devices; installation, operations and maintenance; device manufacture and subsystem integration.
Suzanne Sosna, Director of Energy Transition at Scottish Enterprise, said: “These findings really drive home the need to take action now if we want to reap the potentially sizeable economic benefits of remaining a world leader in marine energy. Scotland already has advantages such as abundant natural resources, innovative companies and decades of energy, maritime and subsea expertise.
“Marine energy has so far benefitted from strong public sector support and is now poised for commercialisation, so there’s never been a better time to help companies scale up their offering. It’s fitting that this report comes almost exactly a year after we launched our new focus on economic transformation, as it clearly demonstrates our commitment to the mission of creating an internationally competitive renewable energy industry in Scotland.”
Tim Hurst, Managing Director of Wave Energy Scotland, said: “Wave Energy Scotland has been fundamental in supporting ongoing innovation in the sector and bringing technologies to the cusp of commercialisation. This report clearly demonstrates the huge economic and societal benefits of continuing Scotland’s commitment and investment in marine energy to ensure it remains a global leader – using our natural resources for national benefit. It also highlights the incredible synergies with other energy sectors, such as offshore wind, allowing for sharing of infrastructure and skills into the future.”
Professor Henry Jeffrey, Chair of Renewable Energy Technology and Policy Innovation at the University of Edinburgh, said: “This report clearly outlines not only the significant potential deployments of tidal stream and wave energy devices in Scottish waters and their role in helping to achieve our net zero targets, but also highlights the associated economic benefits and jobs that will provide a meaningful contribution towards the just transition.
“Of course these very significant benefits only come with strong targeted policy intervention. These outcomes will not be achieved through a business-as-usual approach. Rather, it will require a rapid shift to an enhanced and visible market pull policy, combined with sustained innovation support mechanisms that equally target Scottish technology developers and their domestic supply chains.”
Acting Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said: “This report makes clear the scale of the economic opportunity for Scotland presented by marine energy.
“Scotland is already home to the world’s largest and most powerful operational tidal stream projects and has been a frontrunner in wave energy development for the last two decades – and this, coupled with our abundant natural resources, expertise and forward-looking policy approach – means our country is ideally-placed to harness the enormous global market for marine energy whilst helping deliver our net zero economy.
“The Scottish Government welcomes the opportunity for marine energy to support Scotland’s transition to a sustainable and resilient energy future."
Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland and Chair of the all-party parliamentary group for marine energy, added: “This report confirms what islanders have known for some time: that tidal stream and wave energy have the potential to provide quality jobs and growth across the UK, and in coastal communities in particular.
“It is clearer than ever that the UK has a golden opportunity to lead the way in this industry of the future – all that is needed is for the government to grasp that opportunity by fully backing the sector. Other countries are waking up to the potential of marine renewables so now is not the time to let go of our advantage here.”
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Contact Information
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Notes to editors
Picture captions:
Coastline 1-2 images: Aerial shots of coastal route on the North East of Scotland. Credit: Scottish Enterprise
Coastline 3 image: Aerial shot of coastal route on the North East of Scotland with Energy Transition Zone, Aberdeen in the background. Credit: Scottish Enterprise
Coastline 4 image: Aerial view of Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven. Dunnottar is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the North East coast of Scotland. Credit: Scottish Enterprise
FloWave image: The University of Edinburgh’s FloWave facility, a wave and current simulation tank for testing and developing ocean energy technologies. Credit: Jane Barlow
FastBlade image: FastBlade, a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Babcock International, is the world's first rapid testing facility for tidal turbine blades. Credit: Neil Hanna
Contact information:
Scottish Enterprise Press Office
Sarah Jessen
Wave Energy Scotland Press Office
sarah.jessen@waveenergyscotland.co.uk
01463 383 142
Notes to Editors:
About Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Enterprise (SE) is Scotland’s national economic development agency and a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It supports businesses to innovate and scale to transform the Scottish economy by focusing on new market opportunities through targeted investment, innovation and internationalisation. Follow us on X @scotent and LinkedIn.
About Wave Energy Scotland
Wave Energy Scotland (WES) is driving the search for innovative solutions to the technical challenges facing the wave energy sector. Through a competitive procurement programme, they support a range of projects focused on the key systems and sub-systems of Wave Energy Converters. The aim is to produce reliable technology which will result in cost effective wave energy generation. WES was formed in 2014 at the request of the Scottish Government and is a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The aim of WES is to ensure that Scotland maintains a leading role in the development of marine energy. Follow us on X @WaveEnergyScot and LinkedIn.
About the Policy and Innovation Group
The Policy and Innovation Group is part of the Institute for Energy Systems (IES), which is one of the seven research institutes within the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. The Policy and Innovation Group combines expertise in offshore energy technology, energy system organisations and institutions, and the wider policy and regulatory landscape. They apply a range of quantitative and qualitative research tools and methods including energy system modelling, future transition scenarios, techno-economic analysis and innovation pathways. This leads to the development of policy guidance reports, energy system roadmaps and economic and energy system analysis for technology developers, public and private investment and government departments.
About Tidal Stream Energy
Tidal stream turbines capture the kinetic energy from predictable tidal currents flowing around the coast. These mostly operate in a similar manner to wind turbines but submerged in the water, mounted on the seabed or beneath floating platforms. The world’s first pre-commercial tidal stream farms have been operating in Scotland since 2016, and the sector is now moving to early commercial projects supported by the UK Contracts for Difference (CfD) revenue support mechanism for low-carbon electricity. There is around 10 MW of tidal stream turbines installed in the UK, all in Scottish waters. Beyond this is a pipeline of projects to be installed over the next five years, supported by CfD; 122 MW in the UK, with nearly 84 MW in Scotland. A recent review of the practical tidal stream energy resource in the UK and British Channel Islands broadly supported previous estimates of around 34 TWh/year, or approximately 11% of the annual electricity demand. Building on an earlier Carbon Trust study, this equates to about 11.5 GW of installed capacity, with around 60–70% of this resource in Scottish waters. The exploitable tidal stream resource is spatially concentrated at headlands and in channels between islands, where the flow is fastest. A significant proportion of the Scottish tidal resource is located in the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. Two of the world’s first tidal stream arrays have been built and operated in Scotland since 2016, the Shetland Tidal Array by Edinburgh-based Nova Innovation, and the MeyGen project by SAE. Another leading Scottish tidal developer, Orbital Marine Power, launched their O2 tidal turbine in 2021; at 2.0 MW this is the largest tidal stream device built to date.
About Wave Energy
Wave energy converters (WEC) capture energy from the motion of water particles. The greatest energy is available in open seas and oceans where wind generated waves can develop over great distances. Although a wide variety of WEC concepts have been developed to harness this energy, further demonstration is required to build confidence in their ability to produce significant amounts of power, consistently, over multiple years of operation. While at an earlier stage of development than tidal stream, there has been consistent progression of the development and demonstration of WEC technologies, including significant commitment of resources on research in Scotland. This is bringing the sector closer to being commercially viable. Wave energy farms are expected to be demonstrated in Europe in the next five years. The practical UK wave resource could be significantly larger and more geographically distributed than tidal, with the potential for over 100 TWh/yr, or around 24 GW of installed capacity. More than 60% of this wave resource is in Scotland, distributed around the coast, with the most energetic swell along the exposed Atlantic Coast to the north west. Future wave energy arrays have the potential to be co-located with offshore wind farms, which are beginning to consider locations having an energetic wave climate. This would enable further opportunities for smoothed, combined power export and for improved economics by sharing infrastructure, services and supply chain.