Wave Hub wins national sustainability award

Wave Hub, the offshore marine energy project in Cornwall, has been named Sustainable Project of the Year in the businessGreen Leaders Awards 2011.

The prestigious awards recognise the businesses, organisations and individuals that are pioneering sustainable techniques and technologies that will build the low-carbon economy of the future.

Wave Hub was shortlisted alongside leading national and international companies including HSBC, Tesco and British Sky Broadcasting.

Wave Hub general manager Claire Gibson collected the award at a ceremony in London last night (July 7) and paid tribute to the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) for having the vision to invest in and develop the project.

She said: “Wave Hub has been eight years in the making and it is credit to the South West RDA that the project was finally installed off the north Cornwall coast last summer. Many didn't believe it would be built but thanks to an excellent team at the RDA and our many contractors, Wave Hub is open for business and we are optimistic that the first wave energy device will be connected to the Hub next year.

“Wave Hub will be a critical piece of infrastructure supporting the UK's wave energy industry long into the future."

James Murray, editor of businessGreen, said: “The judges were hugely impressed by the quality of all the short listed entries and praised the winners as being at the forefront of efforts to build a sustainable and prosperous low carbon economy.”

businessGreen.com a business website that offers companies the latest news and best-practice advice on how to become more environmentally responsible, while still growing the bottom line.

1. Wave Hub consists of a giant ‘socket’ on the seabed connected to the national grid on shore by an underwater cable, into which wave energy devices can be ‘plugged’ and tested on a scale not seen anywhere before. The project has four berths available and a capacity of 20MW, equivalent to the electricity needs of more than 7,000 homes. Wave Hub’s first customer will be Ocean Power Technologies, deploying its PowerBuoy device.

2. Wave Hub has been developed by the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) and is a cornerstone of its strategy to develop a world class marine energy industry in South West England and the UK.

3. Wave Hub is funded with £12.5 million from the South West RDA, £20 million from the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme and £9.5 million from the UK government.

4. Follow Wave Hub on Twitter @wavehub

For more information contact:

Jason Clark
DCA Public Relations
01208-77900
07980-834368
jason.clark@dca-pr.co.uk