Abstract
Scotland is at the forefront of the global development and deployment of tidal stream and wave energy devices. In addition to significant resource in Scottish seas, Scotland is also home to several leading tidal stream and wave energy device developers and possesses the underpinnings of a suitably equipped supply chain to support them.
Commercial domestic tidal stream and wave energy sectors have the potential to provide a meaningful contribution to Net Zero, the Just Transition, energy security and economic growth commitments and ambitions, both in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Scottish tidal stream technologies and projects have won Contracts for Difference in the last three auctions (to be delivered 2026–2029). A competitive Scottish supply chain, capable of producing devices and key subsystems at volume, is now needed. Investment in this supply chain, coupled with ongoing market support for the tidal stream and wave energy sectors, is essential to ensure that Scotland capitalises on its position as a pioneer of these technologies.
If Scotland is successful in achieving device commercialisation, there could be a potential combined market for almost 9 GW of tidal stream and wave energy in Scotland by 2050, feeding into potential deployments of 12.6 GW in the UK and 300 GW across the globe in the same timescale.
Tidal stream and wave projects in the UK could generate over £8bn in economic benefit to the Scottish economy by 2050, and support over 15,000 high-value jobs in 2050.
To ensure that these deployments are led by Scottish companies and organisations, establishing a highly competitive and modernised domestic supply chain is increasingly important. This will help to ensure that Scotland remains the location of choice for prospective tidal stream and wave energy developers to develop, build, deploy and maintain their devices.
To achieve these step-changes in supply chain capabilities and deliver the GVA and jobs potential for both sectors, this summary report provides the following set of policy recommendations.
Firstly, targeted recommendations are required to support both device developers and their supply chains, focusing on the need for:
- Long-term market support: Discussions with both UK and devolved governments around the continuation and growth of comprehensive market pull policies.
- Sustained technology innovation: Enabling sustained sources of both public and private innovation funding for technology developers.
- Increased supply chain competitiveness: Delivering a step-change in the capabilities of a modernised and highly competitive supply chain.
Secondly, recommendations are needed to develop essential sector infrastructure, focusing on:
- Develop skills for a Just Transition: Development of soft infrastructures, such as preparing a pipeline of workers with relevant skills and training.
- Cross-sector collaboration: Opportunities to collaborate with, and share, the supply chain and infrastructures of other established offshore sectors, including offshore wind.
- Prioritise infrastructure upgrades: The build out of hard infrastructure, such as ports, harbours, and national grid capabilities.
Finally, this summary report provides the following recommendation to support the smooth delivery of previous recommendations: Delivering innovation support in Scotland:
- Scotland should utilise the extensive experience of its well-established enterprise and innovation support organisations, to deliver on the complex task of sustained device development and the modernisation of domestic supply chain capabilities. If successful, Scotland stands poised to become the nation synonymous with leading the successful development and deployment of innovative tidal stream and wave energy devices and farms.