Research and Innovation for Wave and Tidal Stream in the UK and EU
A 2023 Summary

P.W. Wong and H. Jeffrey, Policy and Innovation Group.  Published on: 10/07/2023

The Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub and the Policy and Innovation Group of University of Edinburgh has jointly published four reports investigating the potential of ocean energy (focusing on wave and tidal stream) in UK.
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A short statement of the main findings of each report is as follows:

• A potential of 6GW of wave and 6GW of tidal stream devices could be installed in the UK by 2050 if the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) target is achieved.
• If 6GW of wave and 6GW of tidal stream is deployed by 2050, a potential gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy in the range of £11-41 billion could be achieved.
• If 6GW of wave and 6GW of tidal stream is included in the Great Britain electricity mix by 2050, a potential savings of over £1 billion per annum in dispatch costs could be achieved.
• Sustained policy support in the form of technology push and market pull is necessary for cost effective delivery of 6GW of wave and 6GW of tidal stream by 2050 .

This series of analysis has indicated that in order to achieve the socio-economic and power system benefits associated with 6GW of wave and 6GW of tidal stream, an optimum combination of policy support in the form of technology push and market pull mechanisms are crucial. Furthermore, our analysis in the latest report demonstrates that technology push funding support for research and innovation (R&I) is crucial to accelerate cost reduction of energy generation, thereby reducing the total amount of market pull funding required.
Given the importance of technology push funding in supporting R&I, it is important to understand the current state of R&I in the UK and EU. This will enable UK to shape its R&I funding strategy ensuring an optimal development of the ocean energy sector. This report aims to aid in this policy decision by presenting a detailed analysis of the current research and innovation (R&I) funding and project landscape. This is a collaborative work between the Supergen ORE Hub, the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and the European Commission funded SEETIP Ocean project. The R&I analysis presented here will be the first iteration of analysis and forms the basis in a SEETIP Ocean exercise to update the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Ocean Energy (SRIA), to be completed in early 2024.
The SRIA is a strategic and influential document that outlines R&I areas in the UK and EU ocean energy sector in order to progress towards the SET Plan targets. The SRIA is a collaboration between stakeholders from the government, industry and research institutions in the UK and EU. The UK plays a strategic role in the SRIA through its strong representation of stakeholders from industry and research institutions in the Technology Working Group and also as one of the three lead authors (i.e. University of Edinburgh, TECNALIA, Ocean Energy Europe) of the current SRIA publication.
As of June 2023, around mid-term of the SRIA period (2021-2025), R&I initiatives in the UK and EU that include all projects funded by the European Commission, the UK and European countries are currently found to be on track against the SRIA recommendations with around €496 million of public funding allocated to over 151 wave and tidal stream projects with the following breakdown:

• Within SRIA recommended Priority Topics:
  • €332 million (50% of SRIA recommended budget of €664 million)
  • 108 projects (73% of SRIA recommended 148 number of projects)
• Outwith SRIA recommended Priority Topics:
  • €163 million
  • 43 projects

The UK is currently the biggest single country funder among all European countries, providing a total public funding of €63 million into the wave and tidal stream sectors, contributing to around 12% of total R&I public funding in Europe. The breakdown of UK funding is as follows:

• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC): €23 million
• Scottish Government: €18.8 million
• UK Government Innovation Funding:
  • Innovate UK: €3.8 million
  • Horizon Europe Guarantee: €14 million
  • Energy Entrepreneurs Fund: €2.4 million

This analysis demonstrates that a relatively large portion of UK funding is focused on early-stage research with limited funding in higher TRL stages particularly in the tidal stream sector, that is crucial for commercial deployment of the technologies.

Download the report

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