2024 UK Ocean Energy Review

2024 UK Ocean Energy Review coverClick cover to download the UK Ocean Energy Review 2024
K. Grattan, D.R.Noble, & H. Jeffrey, Policy and Innovation Group. Published 30 Jan. 2025

The Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with the Supergen ORE Hub, Wave Energy Scotland and the Marine Energy Council, are pleased to announce the publication of the 2024 UK Ocean Energy Review.

As outlined in this report, 2024 has been a year of marked progress for the ocean energy sector, with its potential role in our future decarbonised energy system being ever more clearly understood. The combination of various targeted policy measures, from the expanded tidal stream CfD ringfence fund to sustained innovation support for the wave energy sector, has underlined the potential of these technologies to meaningfully contribute to the 2030 clean power ambitions, and beyond. We hope that this report is able to further reinforce sector progress over the last year, by updating on the advances made by the UK's world-leading technology developers; its cutting-edge R&D projects; and its internationally renowned test centres.

This year we are pleased to include a foreword from Michael Shanks MP, Minister for Energy. We welcome Minister Shanks endorsement of the sectors progress and are pleased to see his acknowledgment of the growing role that ocean energy technologies can play in a future UK energy system:
“This government is on a mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower.
With 130 MW of tidal stream on course to be deployed in UK waters by 2029, it’s clear that tidal stream will play a growing role in the 2030 energy mix, but with even greater potential when it comes to longer-term decarbonisation targets. 
I am [also] pleased to see the progress made by the wave energy sector over the last few years, particularly in research and innovation.
While the sector is still emerging, it certainly has the promise to make a significant contribution to our future energy mix.  
Finally, I want to extend my thanks to the various stakeholders who have contributed to the excellent progress made by wave and tidal stream over the last 12 months.”
The progress made by the sector throughout 2024 is further underlined by Professor Henry Jeffrey, Head of the Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh and one of the authors of the report, who said:
“As our report outlines, 2024 has been a year of significant progress in the UK ocean energy sector.
I'm delighted to see that the pipeline of tidal stream projects awarded through the CfD scheme has now expanded to over 120MW, which will ensure that sector makes a meaningful contribution to the UK's 2030 clean power targets.
Similarly, the progress made by the wave energy sector should not be overlooked, with recent analysis showing the potential to create over 15,000 jobs across both these sectors in 2050, enabling UK ocean energy to punch far above their weight in terms of contributing to national Just Transition commitments.  
Of course, it must be remembered that for the sector to achieve these outcomes on the desired timescales we will need to move away from a business-as-usual approach and ensure that serious policy support is delivered rapidly and in a sustained fashion"
This report is an expansion of the UK chapter of the International Energy Agency Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) Annual Report, written by the Policy and Innovation Group in collaboration with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.
 
This report has been produced by Kristofer Grattan, Donald R. Noble and Henry Jeffrey from the Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh. This report was possible thanks to the input of organisations including the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Supergen ORE Hub, Wave Energy Scotland, Marine Energy Council, European Marine Energy Centre and many more.

The report is available to download here.