New marine energy fund round launched
Scottish Enterprise has announced a new competitive round of funding as part of a multi-million project to develop wave and tidal energy around Scotland.
A total of £6m will be made available to encourage new technology and improve marine renewables devices.
The first round of funding saw four marine energy projects across Scotland progress towards construction.
They included Aquamarine Power's Oyster 3 project at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
That project received a total of £3.15m in 2010.
Scottish Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson said: "With £6m to award, we can help advanced wave and tidal technologies reach the next stage of commercial exploitation - creating new technologies with global potential, research and development jobs, and secure the fabrication and deployment of wave and tidal stream technologies in Scotland."
Scottish Enterprise has committed more than £19m to marine energy development in the past two years through its Waters competitive funding project.
The organisation said the latest round would enable developers to further their research and development towards the deployment of arrays, particularly in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters.