Recession to blame for setbacks in marine industry

Pelamis’ takeover by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and Aqumarine’s serious staff cuts were both caused by delayed effects of recession, Sunday Herald reports Michael Rea as saying.

Michael Rea, Chief Operating Officer at Carbon Trust, said that the main reason for the setbacks in marine energy industry in the UK, including Pelamis’ going into administration and Aquamarine’s lay-offs, was the lack of private investments that were withheld due to the global economy crisis.

“The investment market for early-stage development companies has been difficult since about 2007-08, and that’s exacerbated in a capital-intensive sector like marine, when it’s relatively big sums of money you need to get the technology to market,” Sunday Herald quotes Michael Rea as saying.

The Carbon Trust, together with UK Government’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, started a progamme called the Marine Farm Accelerator.

The programme applies to the marine energy industry, with the aim of developing essential technologies to reduce the costs and risks of converting the power of the sea into electricity, which could consequently attract significant private and public funding.

Image: Aquamarine Power