Marine energy has the potential to provide the UK with substantial amounts of clean energy and a significant number of new jobs according to the UK government's Marine Energy Action Plan, launched today (15th March) by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Minister of State for Energy. Speaking on a visit to the home of the 1.2MW SeaGen turbine in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, Lord Hunt said; "Harnessing the power of our seas will help us reduce our carbon emissions, provide clean, green, secure and reliable energy, create jobs and provide export opportunities.

"This Action Plan sets out our vision for what marine energy can do for the UK and what we need to do to make it happen. I look forward to working with industry and other partners to get the most out of our waters and build a new, world-leading energy generation sector in the UK."

The Plan – which has been developed by Government jointly with industry – sets out the actions needed to drive the marine energy sector forward.

Key recommendations include:

* Forming a UK-wide strategic coordination group to develop a planning and consenting roadmap for all types of marine renewables;
* Consideration of support levels for marine technologies under the review of banding of the Renewables Obligation in Autumn;
* Ensuring that the appropriate levels of targeted funding are available to bridge the technology market failures that exist in this developing sector, subject to the budgets in the next public spending round;
* Leveraging private equity, and in the longer term, project capital into the sector;
* Establishing guidelines and best practice in the development of new technologies; and
* Building a UK marine energy supply chain and utilising the current skills base already established from the offshore wind, oil and gas, and maritime industries.

Lord Hunt also announced the establishment of a Ministerial Task Force on Marine Energy, which will bring together key players to oversee future work on the Marine Energy Action Plan.

The action plan has been welcomed by the industry. Commenting on the announcement, Maria McCaffery, RenewableUK Chief Executive, said: "With the publication of the Marine Energy Action Plan, the government's renewable energy policy has taken a significant step forward. MEAP creates, for the first time, an opportunity for the public and private sectors to discuss the key actions required to develop the UK marine energy industry. This is precisely the type of initiative that the UK needs in order to continue to lead the world in the development of wave and tidal energy potentials. RenewableUK has been 100% committed to developing the best action plan possible and is dedicated to participating in the ongoing process."

RenewableUK is set to launch its official response, 'The Next Steps for Marine Energy' report, tomorrow to tie in with the much anticipated announcement from The Crown Estate on the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Strategic Area. The announcement is expected to announce leases for at least 700MW of wave and tidal capacity to be developed as part of the world’s largest marine energy development round.

To put some perspective on just how important the UK government sees the marine energy industry as being, the MEAP suggests that by harnessing the full potential of marine energy could provide enough power for up to 15million homes and save up to 70million tonnes of C02 by 2050. The document also highlights the potential for the marine energy sector to provide up to 16,000 jobs, with a quarter of these in exports.