Tuesday 15 March 2011

Wave and tidal mean UK can get off the hook of hydrocarbons

"I personally think it's a no-brainer. It's the kind of energy source that will be with us forever. That means our future generation is taken care of and we can get off the hook of hydrocarbons."

These were the words of the director of marine at the Crown Estate, Rob Hastings. Speaking to ELN at the RenewableUK Wave and Tidal Conference, he said the possibilities for marine technologies are vast.

"The potential resource for tidal is enormous. The UK in itself probably has the potential to supply the whole of Europe. The challenge is it's a relatively new technology and the technology has to be applied on a large scale.

"There's no doubt we've got the appetite for it. The difficulty we've got right now is how do we get that technology through to commercial-scale deployment."

Making use of the UK's natural environment is of the upmost importance, according to Mr Hastings: "These property rights that we have are extremely valuable and important to the UK. They are effectively nationally important assets."