100 firms compete for The Saltire £10m marine energy prize
Elaine Brass
15th April 2009
The Saltire Prize, a £10 million prize challenge that aims to put Scotland at the forefront of renewable marine energy innovation, has had 100 registrations of interest from 23 countries and five continents.
The Saltire Prize Challenge is one of the biggest international Government innovation prizes in history, representing Scotland’s energy challenge to the world to push forward the frontiers of innovation in green marine energy. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said it has
the potential to produce significant amounts of sustainable energy and
many highly skilled green jobs.
"Just four months ago, Scotland set a global challenge to compete for the single, greatest prize in the world for marine innovation – the £10 million Saltire Prize. Already, 100 parties from 23 countries have registered their interest in our competition to tackle one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century,” he said. "The Saltire Prize will support technological breakthroughs that will help unlock the enormous potential of marine renewable energy and prepare education and skills development to meet the green job demands of the future. The speed and volume of interest shown in the Saltire prize confirms that Scotland can and will lead the clean, green energy revolution."
The winners will be those that can demonstrate a commercially-viable wave or tidal energy technology that achieves a minimum electrical output of 100GWh over a continuous two-year period using only the power of the Scottish sea. Factors that will be judged include: the best overall technology after consideration of cost, environmental sustainability and safety.
The winner will be announced in spring 2015, after a four-year generation output period starting in 2010.
