Marine Renewables Fueling New Industries

by Carolyn Elefant on April 20, 2010

oilrigBack in August, I lamented that the United States still wasn’t fully capitalizing on opportunities for growth in ancillary industries like shipping which support marine renewables.  And that hasn’t changed much either.  To be sure, marine renewables are powering ancillary industries like ship building and oil and gas.  But as two recent articles bear out, the action remains overseas.

According to New Energy Focus, liberal Democrats in the US are proposing to invest up to 400 million pounds in refurbishing UK shipyards to manufacture offshore wind turbines and marine renewables equipment.

And over in Scotland, renewable energy is contributing to growth in the oil and gas industry.  OilVoice.com reports that “sales into the Renewable Energy sector increased from £10.8m to £17.9m in 2008 and are expected to increase rapidly in the future.”  According to Adrian Gillespie, Director of Energy and Low Carbon Technologies at Scottish Enterprise:

‘Oil and gas remains a key strength for Scottish and UK economic recovery, with the potential of the industry not just to move to international markets but also to diversify and support the development of new sectors including marine renewables and carbon capture and storage.’

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