npower Juice study to plot a course for commercial deployment of marine renewables

npower, one of the UK’s largest energy companies, has today confirmed that it will provide funding to the BWEA2 for a project that will provide a ‘route map’ for the future of wave and tidal stream development around the UK. The project, entitled ‘The npower Juice Path to Power’, will examine the technical resource, environmental & regulatory constraints, grid capacity, and financing requirements for the marine renewables sector. The findings will help to take this exciting new industry from prototype deployment to commercial reality. The final report, due in May 2006, will provide the basis for a flexible strategic plan for commercial development of the sector, taking into account the needs of industry, regulators and environmental stakeholders. Funding for the project will be provided through the npower Juice Fund4, which has been set up specifically to aid the development of emerging renewable technologies such as wave and tidal power.

Michael Hay, Marine Renewables Development Manager at BWEA, said: "This project will be vital in ensuring that we reach a consensus on the location requirements for marine renewables over the coming years whilst highlighting what measures will need to be put in place to bring projects towards commercial reality. In doing this it will also set out the requirements for the marine renewables sector at a critical time in the debate surrounding the Marine Bill and Marine Spatial Planning."

Wayne Cranstone of npower said: "This study is exactly the type of initiative the npower Juice Fund was designed to support, as it will help bring this exciting new industry another step closer to commercial reality. npower is proud to be funding this project and we look forward to seeing the results next spring. It is important to us and to our Juice customers to encourage the development of new renewable technologies, such as wave and tidal power, to help in the fight against climate change. "The Government has set challenging targets for the development of renewable energy. Onshore wind farms, hydroelectric power stations and biomass projects will help us meet the short term targets of supplying 10% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2010. We also need large scale offshore wind farms and marine technologies to be developed as quickly as possible in order to help meet long term renewables targets."