Statement by the Scottish Government on the Saltire Prize
The Saltire Prize is aimed at unleashing Scotland's massive green energy potential - enough to meet peak demand for electricity ten times over, for example, and the resources to produce much more renewable heat.
We start from a solid base. We already meet 16 per cent of our electricity demand from renewable sources - 4 times greater than for the UK as a whole, and well ahead of France (13 per cent) and the US (9.5 per cent).
But our aim is to do so much more. We want to reignite the sense of ambition that existed in Scotland, with the first wave of hydro-electric stations in the immediate post war period. And we are confident that we can achieve our ambitions. We have natural resources which are uniquely placed to harness emerging renewable technologies. Our open coastlines and island straits can make us the global capital for wave and tidal stream technologies. Just as the seas around Scotland have been at the heart of our hydrocarbon economy, we now have the opportunity to build a renewable economy.
The potential wave and tidal capacity in the waters around Scotland is estimated at 21.5 GW - that is almost ten times Scotland's current installed nuclear capacity, and two times current total installed electricity generating capacity . Studies have shown that tidal generation in the Pentland Firth could provide almost 10 per cent of total UK electricity demand.
The Scottish Government believes that renewables can meet at least 50 per cent of Scotland's demand for electricity by 2020, with an interim target of 31 per cent by 2011. To meet our target will require around 5 GigaWatts (GW) of installed renewables capacity by 2011, and over 8 GW by 2020 - current installed renewable capacity is a little over 2.5 GW.
We are not alone in seeing the need for ambitious targets. The EU has adopted a target stating that renewable energy should account for 20 per cent of the EU's final energy consumption by 2020 (8.5 per cent in 2005) - this takes in electricity, heat and biofuels for transport. The United Kingdom's share of this target has been set at 15 per cent by 2020, starting from a position of 1.3 per cent in 2005 - giving the UK the most ground to cover out of all Member States. Given Scotland's strengths in renewable electricity, our position is better but is still only around 6 per cent because of our similarly low base on renewable heat. Given our potential on renewable electricity and ambitions for renewable heat, the First Minister has made it clear his wish for Scotland to achieve 20 per cent overall.
The Saltire Prize will be aimed at developing the innovative technologies to unleash this potential. In Scotland, we have first class energy research going on in Scottish universities, with centres of expertise in Glasgow (Strathclyde), Edinburgh, Aberdeen and the Highlands and islands. The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) on Orkney is the first of its kind in the world - £16m of public sector investment in this unique facility for testing full scale wave and tidal device prototypes.
We will encourage applications from Scottish based teams. And we are also looking more widely to the international research and innovation community. This is an opportunity for the research community from all parts of the world to share in this unique opportunity - to unleash the tremendous potential of marine renewables.