Scotland needs to pool resources to become a world leader in marine energy
Neil Kermode, managing director of the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, believes Scotland has a golden opportunity to turn thousands of miles of its coastline into a multi-billion pound industry.
However, he will argue at the Scottish Renewables conference that Scotland risks losing out to other countries unless experts in the field share knowledge on how to advance what is a fledging industry north of the Border.
"The problem with gaining practical experience is it isn't cheap and it isn't quick," Neil Kermode will tell more than 150 marine energy experts, the largest gathering ever in Scotland. "However, the alternative of never ending study and research face the same criticisms.
"The focus needs to be on how to both bring existing knowledge to bear on problems and effectively support innovation to achieve accelerated progress.
"Openly sharing experiencing both good and bad so far will provide an opportunity to contribute to that progress − and enable Scotland to become a world leader in marine energy."
The conference is sponsored by Scottish Enterprise and Brian Nixon, the economic development agency's head of energy, believes marine energy has the potential to be an incredibly lucrative sector for Scotland.
He said: "Scotland has the ball at its feet when it comes to marine energy. We have all the right ingredients to become a world leader in this sector.
"Scotland has some of the best academics in this field, the natural resources and, of course, industrial supply chain expertise in oil and gas which would be easily transferable to wave and tidal power.
"Marine energy certainly has the potential to be incredibly lucrative for Scotland if all the building blocks are put in place."
The Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS) estimates that with the correct policy framework, infrastructure and market conditions the marine energy industry could install 1.3GW of electricity by 2020 from wave and tidal stream capacity in Scotland.
Jason Ormiston, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "Scotland's coastline stretches for hundreds of miles and offers huge potential for the marine energy industry.
"We have a fantastic opportunity in Scotland to not only to achieve our own environmental targets but also to do with wave and tidal power what Denmark has done with wind − create a 25,000-job industry that exports its expertise worldwide.
"The European Marine Energy Centre could be the world’s test bed for wave and tidal stream technologies and in doing so it will place Scotland at the heart of this exciting new industrial sector."
Delegates will also hear about the importance of grid access issues for marine energy, with a call for more flexibility and innovative thinking from grid companies, Ofgem and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Nigel Scott, chief executive of Glasgow-based independent renewable electricity generation consultancy Xero Energy, will be a panellist on the conference discussion, Storm on the Horizon − Connecting Wet Renewables to the Grid.
He said: "Scotland can certainly become a European powerhouse and the world’s major player in marine renewable energy generation – but failure from the grid-related companies to act on connection issues will consign us to be nothing more than a paddling pool."
Other speakers at the conference will include Jane Morgan, Head of Energy and Telecommunications at the Scottish Government, who will set out the administration's vision for marine energy and the actions it is taking to maintain Scotland’s global lead in the industry.
Scottish Renewables is Scotland's renewable energy trade body. Established in 1996 it represents nearly 220 companies working in wind, wave, tidal, microgeneration, hydro and biomass.
The trade body's members currently employ more than 2,500 people in Scotland and have a combined annual turnover of in excess of £500 million. These figures are projected to increase significantly over the next five years.
By 2020, Scotland has the potential to meet more than half of its energy needs from renewable sources.
Scotland's renewable energy generation capacity in megawatts as at 19 October 2007 is: hydro 1357.76MW; wind 1135.02MW; waste 98.53MW; biomass electricity 37.62MW; biomass heat 5.5MW; wave 0.5MW.
To find out more about the marine energy conference at the Apex Hotel tomorrow visit the events page at www.scottishrenewables.com
The Scottish Renewables Green Energy Awards take place on Thursday 6 December at The Royal Museum in Edinburgh. To find out more, visit www.greenenergyawards.co.uk
Issued by Weber Shandwick on behalf of Scottish Renewables.
Nic White
Tel: 0141 333 0557
Mob: 07770 886908
Email: nwhite@webershandwick.com
Jason Ormiston
Chief Executive
Scottish Renewables
Tel: 0141 222 7920
Mob: 07775 727805
Email: jason@scottishrenewables.com