AN energy centre is at the heart of a new partnership to develop wave and tidal power in the UK.

The New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC), in Blyth, Northumberland, has joined forces with two Scottish universities and the European Marine Energy Centre (Emec), in Orkney.

The partnership, called the UK Centre for Marine Renewable Energy, will ensure sustained, properly equipped research, development, test and certification for the emerging marine energy industry.

The four organisations, which include the University of Edinburgh and Robert Gordon University, in Aberdeen, have joined forces in response to the Government's £50m marine development fund.

Minister for Energy, Stephen Timms, said: "This partnership offers a real forward-facing group that can facilitate the development of a sustainable marine renewable energy industry."

The industry has already reached several milestones, including Emec's launch of the first open sea test facility last month and the deployment of the first deep water full scale wave energy converter, Pelamis.

NaREC is a facility in which larger models of devices can be tested before full-scale devices are deployed in the open sea.

It is also at the forefront of developments of various renewable energy technologies, including offshore wind and photovoltaics and their network integration.