Plans to provide a pre-consented testing area in Welsh waters for marine energy developers awarded fresh funding support.
Ambitious plans to build a marine energy testing zone off the Welsh coast took a step forward this week with the news the project has secured funding from the government-backed Coastal Communities Fund (CCF).
The Marine Energy Wales agency announced it has been awarded £300,000 from the CCF – the maximum grant available through the initiative. The award follows around £400,000 from the Swansea Bay City Deal and fuels hopes the £1.8m project can secure the funding it requires over the coming months.
The Marine Energy Test Area (META) initiative is hoping to secure the remaining required funds from the Welsh European Funding Office as part of a €100m EU funding programme to support marine energy development in Wales.
The project aims to provide pre-consented testing areas in the Milford Haven Waterway for marine energy technology developers to deploy non-grid connected devices, test components, and trial deployment techniques.
“We are delighted that this funding will allow us to continue to play a key role in Wales’ ambitions to become a global leader in marine energy,” said Louise Rigby Williams, project manager of Marine Energy Wales META, in a statement. “It will provide yet another incentive for developers to bring their projects to Wales and will support our peripheral economies by creating jobs, encouraging innovation, and the clustering and diversification of our local supply chain.”
Once the project has completed its funding round, the intention it to map out potential test areas and seek consent for the selected zones.
The long term goal is to provide a real world testing site for early stage technologies, plugging a gap in the development chain between lab testing and the large scale demonstration projects deployed at Scotland’s EMEC site or Cornwall’s Wave Hub.