Scotland, the UK and Ireland are definitely going to be the proving grounds for these technologies. We'll be following each of the projects awarded under this round of leases as they're developed. What's your opinion about marine energy's prospects in the near- and long-term?

I think marine energy has very high prospects but I think the 'playing field' between wind and marine needs to be levelled, too much Government money is being allocated to wind energy and too little to marine in my opinion.
Wind energy is not always available whereas marine energy, being largely governed by the Moon, is always available and peak power provides a continuum of energy as the tides move along both east and west shores of the UK, not to mention the south coast where 'double tides' are experienced in some locations.
Energy storage is vital if we are to recoup the vast expenditure of a network of marine energy generators. So rather than pumping water uphill why not generate and store hydrogen for both domestic and transport fuel. That way we could alleviate ourselves to a large degree, from the 'shackles' of oil with all its international political ramifications and provide many jobs for people 'at home'!