‘Energy scheme’ waves goodbye to £42m

A £42MILLION wave energy project off the British coast that has been running for eight years has yet to produce any electricity.

Wave Hub, an undersea electrical socket installed to test wave energy machines off Cornwall, has hosted just one such machine since 2010.

But the machine was not connected to the shore and one of the project’s two remaining potential customers has now pulled out. Wave Hub said it was “disappointed” that energy firm Carnegie had decided to carry out testing in Australia. Carnegie – an Australian company – was given £9.6million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to test its device.

Wave Hub, based at Hayle in west Cornwall, said the wave energy business was “unfortunately taking longer to develop” than anticipated so it was “diversifying” and exploring options for testing floating wind turbines.

The scheme was financed by the South West of England Regional Development Agency, which contributed £12.5million, the ERDF Convergence Programme (£20million), and the UK Government (£9.5million).

The authorities said at the time that it could generate £76million over 25 years for the regional economy.

The only other project in the pipeline at Wave Hub is a US Gwave scheme not expected for several years.