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LONDON, England, August 23, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
The UK government will provide £4.5 million to a
marine energy project that will act as a giant extension cable to
connect wave energy devices to the national grid.
The funding will come from the Marine Renewables Deployment Fund
of the Department of Trade & Industry, for the deep-sea electricity
socket to be sited off the Cornish coast. The Wave Hub scheme has
been spearheaded by the South West of England Regional Development
Agency.
If it is approved, the federal government has pledged to provide
with almost one-quarter of the estimated £20 million to get the Hub
into the water and connected to the mainland via an underwater cable
that will come ashore at Hayle, Cornwall. The South West RDA made an
application to DTI and Defra in June for the statutory approvals to
build the Wave Hub.
Consent for the project would be required under the Electricity Act
1989, Food & Environment Protection Act 1985, and Coast Protection
Act 1949.
“As an island nation, the UK has an invaluable resource in terms of
marine energy and we are leading the world in developing the
infrastructure to harness the power of the seas,” says energy
minister Malcolm Wicks. “We will be consulting later this year on
how we can make the production of marine energy under the Renewables
Obligation more valuable for developers, but we have again
underlined the government's ongoing commitment with the injection of
up to £4.5 million into the Wave Hub.”
The project still must go through the consent process before it it
allowed in the water but, if successful, “it will be a shining
example of UK innovation that could provide 3% of Cornwall's
electricity needs,” says Wicks. That is 20 MW of green power for
7,500 homes.
“Today's announcement is another significant milestone for the Wave
Hub project and recognizes the important contribution it will make
to the development of marine renewable energy, not just in South
West England but in the UK as a whole,” says Jane Henderson of the
South West of England Regional Development Agency. “We are now
awaiting the outcome of our consents application. If that is
granted, we expect Wave Hub to come into operation in 2008.”
The government consultation on the Wave Hub application will
conclude on September 1, and a decision is expected by the end of
this year.
The South West of England Regional Development Agency was
established by the government in 1999 to promote the long-term
economy of the region.
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