The marine environment offers some of the greatest potential for renewable energy generation in the UK - wave-energy devices and tidal power installations add to the potential for offshore wind which is already being exploited.

The British Isles are at the edge of the Atlantic and are exposed to some of the most energetic waves and tidal currents in the world. This makes us well placed to utilise marine technology to maximum effect and subsequently exploit wider international markets.

The UK has a global lead in marine renewable technologies. The Research Councils UK Energy Programme has been key to this, recently investing £7.7 million, this includes the £5.5 million marine energy SUPERGEN consortium led by Edinburgh University.

The National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS) conducts wave climate research in the North Atlantic and British shelf seas, and this is valuable for assessing the available resource for wave energy and some of the risks for all offshore installations, including wave and offshore wind.

We are also supporting a further three projects that are working in collaboration with a number of industrial partners such as CD Adapco and Pelamis Wave Power Ltd and we are collaborating with other funding agencies such as the Energy Technologies Institute and the Technology Strategy Board in order to push marine technology through to deployment.