New inquiry for the future of marine renewables in the UK
By the Energy and Climate Change Committee, chaired by Tim Yeo MP The Energy and Climate Change Committee, chaired by Tim Yeo MP, launched an inquiry to investigate the potential for marine renewables to contribute towards the UKs renewables and emissions targets.The UK has the largest wave and tidal resources in Europe. The Carbon Trust has estimated that around 1520% of the UKs electricity could potentially be produced from marine renewable sources (based on the available resource). A range of technologies is being developed to harness these resources, but most are immature and still at an early stage of development.The Government has provided funding to the research and development of marine technologies through a number of routes, including the 50 million Marine Renewables Deployment Fund (MRDF) created by the previous Government.The Spending Review of November 2010 announced innovation funding of over 200 million for low carbon technologies over the next four financial years, from April 2011. On 28 June 2011, DECC announced that 20 million of this funding would be used to support two projects to test prototypes in array formations.Terms of ReferenceThe inquiry will assess the success of existing Government support and measures on marine renewables and investigate the ...
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