A handful of marine energy projects were awarded nearly £5 million in total today by Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing.

A £2 million chunk of funding will go to tidal power company Atlantis Resources Corporation to help set up a global engineering hub in Edinburgh.

Five other projects are getting a £2.8 million share of the Scottish Government’s Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) to develop technology or carry out research.

Some of this cash will go to something called the ‘CableFish’ which includes a camera and GPS to help with cable installation in fast flowing water conditions.

Money will also go to the European Marine Energy Centre to design and build a seabed monitoring “pod” and power developer Nautricity’s 500 kilowatt turbine off the Mull of Kintyre.

Speaking ahead of an appearance at a renewable energy conference in Belfast today, Mr Ewing claimed some of the world’s greatest wind, wave and tidal resources are “heavily concentrated” in the waters around Scotland.

He said: “Our ambition for Scotland’s emerging wave and tidal sector remains great. We know that the successful harnessing of ocean power takes hard work and persistence and the Scottish Government is determined to support those within the industry.”

Andrew Lever, Director of Innovation Scotland at the Carbon Trust which is working with the Scottish Government to deliver the MRCF said: “Dramatically reducing the costs of marine energy is the sector’s number one objective as it moves towards large scale deployment. The MRCF is central to that goal.”