The Isle of
Wight Council wants to create a multi-million pound tidal energy facility off
its coast to supply the island with electricity.
 |
| The wave farm would be installed on the seabed off St Catherine's Point |
The
authority has already pledged £1m towards creating the Solent Ocean Energy
Centre off St Catherine's Point on the south of the island.
The £1m has
been matched by private sector investment, which will fund phase one of the
scheme, to get the licences and consents for the site and seabed.
Phase two,
to build a test bed and demonstration site, is expected to cost in the region
of £21m, but two applications for government Regional Growth Funding in 2011
have already been turned down.
The success
of the project now hinges on private sector investment.
Revenue and
jobs
John
Metcalfe, deputy director of economy and tourism at the site, said: "We
have already got an agreement in principal with between 10 and 12 companies interested
in the project. We've got companies committed from Canada, Finland as well as
the UK."
The council
has been working with the University of Southampton to gauge the potential of
the project and it hopes, by 2014, private sector companies will begin basing
their own tidal energy equipment at the site, generating revenue for the
authority and jobs for islanders.
Stuart
Love, the council's director of economy and environment, said: "We have
been working very closely with Southampton University to demonstrate that there
is the potential off our coast, not only to generate enough power for the
island and more, but to create 700 jobs in the Solent region and up to 5,000
nationally so that is a significant impact on our economy.
"One
of our key focuses as a local authority is trying to do what we can to boost
the island's economy.
"We
are proposing that we put money into this on the basis that in the long term
that money will get paid back and once we have created the right environment
the private sector will come in and will spend their money.
"The
potential not just in terms of energy generation and sustainability for the
island, but the number of jobs this will create and the impact for the UK's
economy is massive."
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