It is unseasonably warm in Paris, and the marine energy part of team Scotland has moved en mass from the Scottish Renewables Wave and Tidal Conference in Inverness last week, some via the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, to the French capital. Whilst the focus is on how Europe is leading the world in the marine sector, and a major showcasing of potential French tidal projects, its clear that EU ambitions are built on Scottish success.
This was clearly demonstrated in some of the early sessions, where speakers from a range of European countries talked about proposed projects, about route maps for consents, environmental management and the need for further testing and research. Scottish speakers focused on how projects have been delivered, best practice in government support, and how we moved on to delivering financial engineering solutions as well as physial engineering.
This year’s European Ocean Energy Conference, with 2014 in Paris following on from last years event in Edinburgh, has highlighted how the wave and tidal sector has moved right up the political agenda in Brussels, with Energy securtity, and the need for new low carbon electricty generation from European resources driving a new focus from the Commission. Scotland, and the Highlands and Islands with 25% of EU tidal resource and 10% of its wave power, is in pole position to deliver that.
Calum Davidson, Director of Energy and Low Carbon, HIE.