The Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has announced an annual Saltire Prize Green Energy Award as well as a £1000 competition – sponsored by industry body Scottish Renewables and open to art students across Scotland – to design the Award medal.

The inaugural annual Award for marine energy will be presented at Scottish Renewables’ annual conference in March 2011.

Salmond says: “Scotland’s £10 million Saltire Prize is a global challenge to push back the boundaries of generating power from our seas. With two confirmed applicants and more than 150 registrations of interest from around the world, this competition is already helping accelerate the commercial development of wave and tidal energy technology.

“The annual Saltire Prize Green Energy Award Medal will recognise some of the outstanding individuals and groups who are at the forefront of this great endeavour. I’m delighted that Scottish Renewables has agreed to deliver this award and to host the inaugural presentation of the accolade at its annual conference in March.

“And given that high quality of potential recipients of the Medal, the Scottish Government and Scottish Renewables are inviting arts students from across Scotland to come up with a winning design that befits the outstanding individuals selected from among their peers – all pioneers of this exciting frontier technology.”

Niall Stuart, CEO of Scottish Renewables, adds: “Scotland has a rich marine heritage and is well on its way to becoming a world leader in harnessing power from our seas. The creation of a new Saltire Prize medal presents an opportunity to showcase our achievements in this area.”

The Saltire Prize

The Saltire Prize will see £10 million awarded to the team that can demonstrate a commercially viable wave or tidal stream energy technology in Scottish waters, that can achieve the greatest volume of electrical power output over the set minimum hurdle of 100 GWh over a continuous two-year period using only marine power.