Scotland stumps for marine renewables

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EDINBURGH, Scotland, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The European Union needs to give its full support to the Scottish government's efforts to develop marine renewables, the energy minister said.

The Scottish government in October established a task force to help move the country closer to its 2020 goal of 100 percent electricity from renewable energy.

Scotland has pushed aggressively to develop wind, marine and hydropower so as to get all of its electricity needs from renewable energy resources by the end of the decade.

A paper published by governments in northern and central Europe calls on the European Commission to recognize the potential economic and energy security benefits of marine renewables.

Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said the tidal energy and wave energy potential in his county was "unrivalled." There are plans, he added, to generate as much as 1.6 gigawatts of electricity through marine energy.

"We now need the European Commission to give marine energy its complete financial backing, under the strategic energy technology plan, to enable Scotland's vast ocean energy resources to connect to the mainland European market and help the commission achieve its energy infrastructure priority of a Northern Seas offshore grid," he said in a statement.