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BWEA Marine 08

BWEA Marine 08 successfully demonstrated the marine energy industry’s enthusiasm and appetite for growth. Over 330 people attended BWEA’s fifth dedicated wave and tidal conference, which once again was the largest in the world. The Edinburgh International Conference Centre hosted technology developers, utilities, financiers and stakeholders and included delegates from across the world, all of whom were keen to understand the latest developments in the industry. 

In the discussions on the day, the one word heard again and again was collaboration.  Whether it was the pooling of knowledge, joint enterprises between companies or a more harmonised approach from funding agencies, the need for working together was clear.  In the opening addresses Malcolm Wicks, UK Energy Minister and Jim Mather, Scottish Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, stressed the need for all parts of the industry to come together to help the UK governments meet their renewable energy ambitions.  David Clarke, the Chief Executive of the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), anticipated larger projects would be funded into the long term through the ETI, where expertise from different sectors could be accessed. He stressed that the issue of intellectual property was of high importance and would be given its due attention.  In the second session lively debate was held on the direction of industry development and it was useful to take stock of whether the current UK marine energy programme was fit for purpose.  The afternoon examined how risk should be understood and managed.  The opinions of industry and insurers helped inform the conference debate.  The international session gave a useful insight into what was happening in other countries, explored the possibility of international collaboration and acted as a reminder that the UK was not the only country actively developing a marine renewable industry.

This conference moves from strength to strength and shows an industry which is growing in confidence and everyday increases in number.

Sponsors of BWEA Marine 08

BWEA would like to extend thanks to all of the event sponsors:

If you are interested in sponsoring an element of BWEA Marine 09, please contact Helen Barnes at BWEA on +44 (0)20 7689 1968 or email helen@bwea.com.

Exhibitors

BWEA would also like to thank all companies that took exhibition space at the event:

Aquatera, Daybreak Communications, E.ON, Frazer Nash Consultancy, Garrad Hassan and Partners, The Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Koru Foundation, NaREC, Ocean Power Technologies, Peel Wind Power Limited, REDS, reNews, ScottishPower Renewables, SeaRoc and the SuperGen Marine Consortium.