Left to right: Dr Lars Johanning (University of Exeter), Dave Parish (University of Exeter) and Julian Wolfram (Independent Chair, PRIMaRE) launch the South West Mooring Test Facility, part of PRIMaRE's research.
£10 million for energy research announced
South West England’s ambition to be a global centre for harnessing energy from the sea has received a major boost with the announcement of a £10.3 million investment in marine energy research.
The bulk of the investment - £4.2 million - has come from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) Convergence Programme in Cornwall.
The Peninsula Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE), set up two years ago by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth with funding from the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency), will use the cash to support its team of world-class academics and researchers, buy new equipment and collaborate with business.
Match funding comes from the South West RDA (£4.3 million); the University of Plymouth (£200,000) and the University of Exeter (£466,000) and there is further investment from the ERDF Competiveness Programme in the rest of the South West.
The funding will support PRIMaRE’s 15 world-class academic staff, 60 researchers and a dedicated technology transfer team that works with businesses to support high quality job creation across the South West.
There will be substantial investment in new equipment including wave and tidal measuring devices, wave making facilities, subsea electrical equipment, collision avoidance and monitoring equipment and research into the environmental impact and benefits of marine renewable energy.
PRIMaRE will support and complement the South West RDA’s pioneering Wave Hub project, which will create the world’s largest wave energy farm 10 miles of the Cornish coast and is on course to be built next year.
Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “Climate change presents many challenges but there are also great opportunities for new low carbon goods, services and energy production. It is only through investment in top quality scientific research and knowledge transfer to businesses that we will successfully tap these new markets. This ERDF Convergence investment will stimulate the creation of a whole new industry and related business opportunities.”
Stephen Peacock, the RDA’s Enterprise and Innovation Director, said: “PRIMaRE and Wave Hub are central planks in the RDA’s drive towards a low carbon economy in South West England. We want our region to be one of the best places in the world to build a low carbon business and a global leader in the development of environmental and renewable energy technologies.”
Date: 3 July 2009
