Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Scotland’s marine energy sector to protect its home-grown, innovative skills and knowledge base, and how it is working with partners, including the UK Government, to develop policy to achieve this.
Scotland has developed one of the world’s strongest concentrations of marine energy expertise, built through significant investment to date by Scottish Government and its Enterprise Agencies in research and development which has leveraged additional support. The Scottish Government invested over £70 million into Wave Energy Scotland, and £15 million into the European Marine Energy Centre site to date. Further investment is now needed from the UK Government and its bodies to support the sector which is where the main levers sit for commercialising these emerging technologies.
We are very fortunate that our domestic skills base spans engineering, research, manufacturing, project development, offshore operations, and advanced subsystem innovation which is in demand not only across tidal stream and wave but also floating offshore wind. This cross fertilisation of innovative skills and knowledge between sectors offers a wider range of opportunities to individuals and also benefits the advancement of key industries.
The Scottish Government, alongside the UK Government and the Welsh Government, is participating in the work of the Marine Energy Taskforce which is tasked with making recommendations on how best to accelerate the UK’s marine energy sector and is due to report this summer. We look forward to working with governments across the UK to consider these recommendations.