A $97 million subsidy fund for wave and tidal-stream projects was allocated too early, increasing costs and raising expectations too high, the Renewables Advisory Board marine group said today in a statement on the Web site of London's Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.

The U.K. seeks to use power generated in seas to help meet a European Union target for 15 percent of its energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. The nation is regarded as a "world leader" in researching the equipment, according to the advisers.

"The technical challenges, particularly of operating in a marine environment, are great and perhaps more difficult than originally expected," the group said. "Over-optimism" in the industry has also served to create higher expectations for the technologies, it added.

Lack of cooperation has led to an "inefficient and wasteful" use of resources, according to the report.

Many of the projects funded by the program failed to meet its criteria, which include setting up a system that operates for three months under the "harsh" conditions of the U.K.'s marine environment, the report said. Reasons for the failure include the small size of the developers, environmental impact assessment requirements, higher-than-expected costs and poor communication of academic research to industry developers.

The U.K. has one of the largest coastlines in northern Europe, providing a potentially "abundant" source of carbon- free renewable energy, according to the advisory panel. The fund aims to build on the U.K.'s lead in wave and tidal energy studies and contribute to employment and wealth creation.

The government is "considering the recommendations" of the report, Malcolm Wicks, the minister responsible for energy, said in the statement. The report "confirms the potential of wave and tidal to contribute significantly to our renewable energy and climate-change targets," the minister said.

(Link to original article )

---