South West businesses and academics join forces to generate power

Business professionals and researchers will gather in Cornwall on 8 January to identify opportunities to get involved with developing wave and tidal energy in the South West. The Peninsula Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE) Annual Research Conference will enable businesses and academics to collaborate on developing and testing marine renewable energy technology.

Hosted by the University of Exeter, the conference will be held at the Cornwall Campus (known locally as Tremough), Penryn.

PRIMaRE is a joint £15 million institute for research into harnessing the energy from the sea, bringing together the technology and marine expertise of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth. Its team of world-class academic staff and researchers is dedicated to the support and development of the marine renewable energy sector. PRIMaRE supports and complements the South West RDA's pioneering £42 million Wave Hub project, which will create the world's largest wave energy test site 10 miles off the Cornish coast.

The conference will give the region’s businesses and academic researchers the latest news from PRIMaRE and will also explore opportunities for working together on the next stages of the project.

Dr Dean Millar of the University of Exeter said: “This event will be a great opportunity for everyone who has been involved with PRIMaRE so far to assess what we have achieved so far and what challenges lie ahead. We also hope that businesses will find exciting opportunities to collaborate with us over the coming months. We are proud to be hosting this event on our Cornwall Campus, where our renewable energy team is developing and testing the very latest marine energy technologies.”

Dr Sue Brownlow, Combined Universities in Cornwall Director, said: "This conference is a splendid example of how the expansion of university education is creating new opportunities for business in Cornwall. By combining the strengths of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, both partners in the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative, PRIMaRE has the research muscle to underpin an internationally excellent marine renewables industry in the region."

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