New ROC regime welcomed

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Wave Hub has welcomed a UK Government announcement that will see financial support for wave and tidal stream technologies more than double from next year.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change confirmed today that it will increase support for wave and tidal stream projects from two Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) to five per megawatt hour, up to a maximum of 30MW per project from 2013 to 2017.

Claire Gibson, general manager at Wave Hub, which is a 20MW testing facility for wave energy devices off the north coast of Cornwall in the UK, said: “This is excellent news and a big boost for Wave Hub and the development of marine renewables in South West England.

“Wave and tidal developers have been calling for a regime which provides investors with a clear signal that they will get a return on their investment, and that’s what today’s announcement does.”

The announcement was also welcomed by Cork-based Ocean Energy, which will be the first wave energy company to deploy at Wave Hub.

John McCarthy, chief executive and co-founder of Ocean Energy said: “The availability of this ROCs support is a vital part of the infrastructure necessary for the development of commercial wave energy farms. It has already been established that for wave technologies to achieve commercial maturity, support would be required from governments.”