Earlier this month, as part of EU Sustainable Energy Week, Marine Energy Pembrokeshire and Pembroke Port welcomed members of the surrounding community to a marine energy information day in Pembroke Dock. Held at the Pater Hall, members of the public had the opportunity to talk to local representatives from Marine Energy Pembrokeshire about wave and tidal plans and projects in the local area.

Jenny Allen, a local Marine Geography graduate who attended the Information Day stated: "I found the event really interesting and informative as we cover marine renewable energy in my degree."

"We are lucky in Pembrokeshire to have such a good wave and tidal resource and it's exciting to hear that developers from all over the world are starting to take an interest in the area."

It is true that the profile of Wales as a potential location for marine energy projects has increased dramatically over the past 12 months, demonstrated clearly by the growing number of developers from across the globe who are showing an active interest in developing projects in Welsh waters.

In recent months, Marine Energy Pembrokeshire, an organisation supporting the development of the wave and tidal industry in Pembrokeshire has welcomed world leading developers from Singapore, Australia, Canada, America, Ireland, and Sweden to its quarterly meetings.

The highlight of the day was a tour of the DeltaStream device - Tidal Energy Limited's full-scale tidal energy generator.

Community members were interested to hear of the revised plans for the deployment of its DeltaStream device in Ramsey Sound and were pleased to hear that the device will hopefully be installed during the autumn of this year.

Louise Rigby, from Marine Energy Pembrokeshire who helped coordinate the day with Pembrokeshire County Council said: "It was encouraging and inspiring to see such enthusiasm for marine energy among local people."

Chris Williams, Development Director at Tidal Energy Ltd said: "Many developers, manufacturers, schools and colleges have requested visits to see the DeltaStream unit, and have been impressed by the world-leading craftsmanship that has gone into creating this device. We are fortunate in Pembrokeshire to have this world-leading craftsmanship right on our doorstep."

Mainstay Marine Solutions Ltd has built and assembled Tidal Energy Limited's DeltaStream device at its facilities in Pembroke Port, demonstrating that Wales is continuing to accumulate the required skills and experience in the marine renewables sector. Tidal Energy Limited says that it will continue to benefit from the expertise present in the region and looks forward to further expansion of the industry with the creation of green jobs.

Marine Energy Pembrokeshire volunteer Gareth Hart commented: "As a university undergraduate studying Geography, I had some knowledge of marine and other renewable energy resources.

"However, I had never thought seriously about studying it. Volunteering with MEP and visiting the DeltaStream device has really opened my eyes to how simple and effective marine energy can be as a source of energy and I am now looking into how I can study it to a higher level with a view to possibly getting a job in this exciting sector".

MEP have a marine energy contacts database in excess of 700 and provide regular news feeds across the sector. If you are interested to receive updates about the marine energy sector, please contact Louise Rigby on [email protected]">[email protected]