The announcement came at the same time as the Carbon Trust presented the 6 most promising marine energy technologies that will receive £22 million of funding to speed up the deployment of full scale prototypes of their leading marine energy designs.

Although marine energy is currently 10 years behind offshore wind energy in development, costs can be reduced significantly over the next decade with up to 1000 marine energy devices in operation by 2020, according to the Carbon Trust.

Tom Delay, CEO of the Carbon Trust, says: "The UK must urgently diversify, decarbonise and secure its energy sources and marine energy could over time provide up to 20% of the UK's electricity. Generating electricity from the UK's powerful wave and tidal resource not only plays a crucial role in meeting our climate change targets but also presents a significant economic opportunity for the UK. Wave alone presents a £2 billion economic opportunity for the UK."