Scottish Government Offers $15 Million Wave-Tidal Energy Prize

Scotland has announced details of a 10 million pound ($15 million) prize to develop the most commercially viable technology to produce electricity from the power of waves and tides in the country’s stormy waters. Known as the Saltire Prize Challenge, the award will go to the person or company that most efficiently produces a minimal electrical output of 100 gigawatt hours — enough to power 5,000 Scottish homes — continuously over a two-year period. Scotland has set a goal of obtaining half its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and First Minister Alex Salmond said the competition — which will take place from 2009 to 2013 — was designed “to push the frontiers of innovation in clean, green marine renewable energy.” He referred to the country’s northern waters as “our Saudi Arabia of renewable marine energy.” A host of companies worldwide are now developing systems to tap into the power of the sea.