Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the sum of EU funding that the European Marine Energy Centre uses to maintain operations; and if he will make a statement.
Established in 2003, the European Marine Energy Centre was set up by several public sector organisations following a recommendation by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee in 2001. To date, around £39 million of public funding has been invested in the Centre by the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Carbon Trust, UK Government, Scottish Enterprise, the European Union and Orkney Islands Council. In 2011, EMEC became financially self-sufficient.