29 April 2009 09:51
E.ON withdraws from Wave Hub project

Energy company E.ON and partner Ocean Prospect have today (WED) announced that they have withdrawn from the Wave Hub project off the north Cornish coast.

The company was one of four developers looking at using Wave Hub to ‘plug in' marine power projects, with E.ON and Ocean Prospect looking at using the Pelamis wave power device at the site, which is due to be built next year.

Following E.ON's purchase of a next generation Pelamis device to be tested in Orkney, the companies decided to withdraw from Wave Hub for the time being so that other developers could take advantage of the project.

Dave Rogers, Regional Director of Renewables for E.ON, said: "Our aim is to concentrate on testing our Pelamis device, which means that it was unlikely we'd be in a position to connect to Wave Hub in the short term.

 "We still believe Wave Hub is an excellent project - and we may well return to it in the future - but our initial goal is to get a machine into the water as quickly as possible, which we'll be able to do in Orkney."

Nick Harington, Head of Marine Energy at the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency), which is developing Wave Hub, said: "It's entirely understandable that E.ON wants to test a single next generation device at the European Marine Energy Centre rather than an array of devices which is what wave hub is designed for. We wish them well and hope to welcome them back in the near future.

"Wave Hub is on course to be built and commissioned next year. We are currently in detailed negotiations with three wave device developers and look forward to the first device being deployed at Wave Hub in 2011."

The Pelamis trial at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney forms part of E.ON's renewable development portfolio in the UK that, if built, would be able to provide power for around a million homes and to displace two million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

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Notes to editors:

• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 17,000 people in the UK;
• E.ON's retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK with around 5.5 million electricity and gas customers, covering domestic, SME and industrial. E.ON also offers central heating and boiler care;
• We're one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 21 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We own and operate one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations at Lockerbie. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester;
• Our green development portfolio could power over a million homes and displace the emission of almost two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by building new onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass power stations, and tidal stream and wave power schemes;
• Our target is to cut the carbon released by each kW of electricity we generate by 10% between 2005-2012, having already reduced it by 20% since 1990;
• We have 1,300MW of renewable capacity under development.

• The South West RDA is planning to create the world's first large scale wave energy farm by constructing an electrical 'socket' on the seabed at a depth of around 50 metres some 10 miles (18.5 km) off Hayle on the Cornwall coast in South West England.
• Called Wave Hub, it will allow developers of wave energy devices to test new wave energy technology. Groups of wave energy devices will be connected to Wave Hub and float on or just below the surface of the sea to assess how well they work and how much power they generate before going into full commercial production.
• Three wave device developers have committed to Wave Hub so far: Fred Olsen Ltd, Ocean Power Technologies Ltd and Orecon Ltd.
• Ocean Prospect's full press release can be found on the company website, http://www.oceanprospect.com/

For more information contact:

Rebecca Mara on 024 7618 3679