Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford has visited Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum (PCF), the organisation behind Marine Energy Wales, to understand the Welsh sector’s requirements for seizing the marine renewable energy opportunity.
At the meeting, Marine Energy Wales offered stakeholders a chance to discuss with the First Minister what needs to be put in place to successfully deliver marine renewables in Wales.
The aim is to make the region a global leader in marine renewable energy and ensure a viable future for the industry.
The opportunity, if seized, will provide thousands of jobs, multiple gigawatts of clean energy, and opportunities to export technology and expertise globally, said Marine Energy Wales.
Scheduled deployments in the coming years are expected in tidal stream, tidal range, wave and floating offshore wind.
Last month Welsh floating tidal project, the 5.62MW Morlais Magallanes, powered by Spanish tidal technology, was included in the Contract for Difference (CfD) Round 4 results.
In addition, The Crown Estate has identified five broad ‘areas of search’ for the development of 4GW of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “I am pleased to have met Marine Energy Wales and thank them for the work they do to support the development of the sector here in Wales.
“We are committed to making Wales a centre of emerging marine energy technologies as set out in our programme for Government, and have set up a Marine Energy Programme to deliver on this commitment.
“It is also vital that the UK Government fully supports the industry through its policies, to ensure that we can maximise the opportunities that are available.”
The minister also made clear that he is very alert to the challenges of the consenting regime, outlining a desire to deliver an enabling, problem-solving consenting regimes, Marine Wales said.
He noted that a willingness from industry to share data will be critical to working together to create a system designed to make things happen rather than stop them from happening.