Scotland’s largest marine energy conference has been awarded Scottish Cities Global Excellence status as part of the Commonwealth Games legacy programme.
Scottish Renewables’ Marine Conference, Exhibition and Dinner, to be held in Inverness on September 23 and 24, will showcase the world-leading wave and tidal energy technologies and expertise being developed in Scotland’s seas.
The event, in association with Highlands & Islands Enterprise, is one of seven Global Excellence conferences being sponsored by the Scottish Cities Alliance to provide a legacy from 2014 events including the Commonwealth Games.
This year’s Marine Conference has been given extra impetus by the announcement of new wave and tidal site leases by the Crown Estate, and the inaugural generation of electricity from the world’s first community-owned tidal turbine in Shetland.
Lindsay Leask, Senior Policy Manager at Scottish Renewables, said: “To celebrate what has already been an amazing year for Scotland’s marine energy sector with Scottish Cities Global Excellence status makes this event all the more special.
“The Crown Estate lease announcements – which open up four new sites in Scotland – indicate the appetite for new developments remains strong, while Scottish company Nautricity’s agreement to develop a 500kW project in Nova Scotia is yet another example of the huge export opportunities open Scotland if we continue to build on our world-leading position in this sector.”
According to current estimates the UK could secure a marine energy industry worth up to £6.1bn every year by 2035, employing up to 19,500 people
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing, who will open the conference with a ministerial address, said: “Scotland is at the forefront of developing offshore and low carbon technologies, with some of the world’s greatest wind, wave and tidal resources heavily concentrated in the waters around our country.
“The coastlines around Orkney, Caithness, Shetland, the Outer Hebrides and Argyll provide fertile testing ground for marine energy developers. This conference will allow us to promote Inverness and the whole Highlands and Islands region as the place for marine energy development and deployment.”
Sessions at the two-day event will be chaired by internationally-renowned figures including Dr Bernie Bulkin – formerly BP’s Chief Scientist – and Stephen Gethins, Convenor of the Advisory Board at independent think-tank Scottish Global Forum and a former special advisor on energy and climate change to Scotland’s First Minister.
On day two, Mary McAllan, Director of Energy and Climate Change at the Scottish Government, will debate the future of marine power with Lindsay McQuade, Policy and Innovation Director at ScottishPower Renewables – one of the country’s largest renewables players – and Martin McAdam of wave power innovators Aquamarine Power.
Day two will also focus on the consenting and licensing of marine energy developments, a session which will hear from Edward Rollings, Environment and Consents Manager at MeyGen – the company developing Europe’s largest tidal stream array in the Pentland Firth off Caithness – and Dr Ben Wilson, Principal Investigator in Mammalogy and Marine Renewables at the Scottish Association for Marine Science.