Barker gives marine energy park the green light

The Government is setting up Britain's first "marine energy park" in the South-west as it hopes to address criticisms that its pre-election claim to be the "greenest government ever" was a sham.

Greg Barker, the Climate Change minister, announced that the South West Marine Energy Park will stretch from Bristol to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, 28 miles off the Cornish coast.

He believes marine energy has the potential to generate up to 27 gigawatts of power in Britain by 2050, equivalent to eight coal-fired power plants.

The first wave of commercial wave farms – of 10 to 30 megawatts – will be located off the north Cornish coast. From 2018, larger wave farms of 100 MW could be put in deeper water.