Scotland’s £10 million Saltire Prize may have attracted a lot of interest over the past 15 months or so for drawing the “best minds in the world”, but now it has emerged that the winner of this contest will be revealed two years later than expected.
The government recently shared that the £10 million Saltire Prize is now open for applications. The competition guidelines were finalised last month.
It was recently disclosed that the winner would not be revealed until July 2017. As a result of feedback from potential entrants during a recent consultation on the Prize guidelines, the Saltire Prize grand challenge period will now be between 2012 and 2017 to allow sufficient time for competitors to secure leases and meet the required licensing and consenting requirements.
In the past, it has been indicated that the prize has evoked interest from across the world, including America, Mexico, India, France, Norway, Spain besides the UK.
Labour leader Iain Gray reportedly said the prize “was supposed to promote Scotland as a world leader in renewable energy”.
“Now it turns out that it won’t be awarded at the end of this parliamentary session, or even at the end of the next one as the SNP promised, but in 2017,” he said. “Enterprising Scottish companies will hear this news in stunned disbelief. These repeated delays are turning into a real embarrassment for the SNP Government.”
The key stages of the competition are as follows:
1. To gain Saltire Prize Applicant status, competing teams will first need to provide evidence that the appropriate agreement for lease from The Crown Estate has been granted. While the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters are currently the areas of primary interest for wave and tidal stream energy project development in Scotland, potential Saltire Prize competitors may be interested in other areas. The Crown Estate is planning to announce a further wave and tidal leasing round for sites in Scottish Waters later in 2010 and a Discussion Paper on proposed geographic areas for development is available until 20 April 2010.
2. Saltire Prize Applicants will be required secure all marine licence and consenting issues before notifying the Scottish Government when they wish to start competing within the Grand Challenge Period.
Read more:
Saltire Prize: http://social.waveenergytoday.com/search/node/Saltire+Prize
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