Nine wave and tidal power projects received financial backing from the Scottish Executive yesterday, with the claim that an experimental site in Orkney could be the start of a world-leading industry in Scotland.
The announcement came with confirmation that the country has hit its target of achieving 18% of its electricity generation from renewable sources, five years ahead of the 2010 target.
The wave farm at the European Marine Energy Centre, off Orkney, will involve several different technologies.
The largest part of the project, with nearly one-third of the executive's £13m funding allocation, will be the Pelamis technology being developed by Ocean Power Delivery, a ScottishPower subsidiary based in Leith.
That will involve four, 500-foot snake-like machines, floating on the sea surface, which absorb wave energy and convert it into electric power, producing up to three megawatts, reckoned to be enough to power around 2000 homes. The £10m prototype has received £4.1m from the executive.
An Easter Ross company, AWS Ocean Energy, also benefited from £2.1m in taxpayer support in developing a different type of technology, the Archimedes Wave Swing.
This looks like a navigation beacon but is submerged at least 20ft below the surface of the sea, generating electricity by rocking with the waves' motion.
It is seen as avoiding storm damage, taking up a smaller sea area than surface technologies. There is £1.8m of public support for ScotRenewables, a five-year-old company based in Orkney which is developing a tidal turbine anchored on the sea bed.
An American company, Ocean Power Technology, is receiving £600,000 to try out its buoy, which generates electricity through a piston being pumped up and down by the power of waves.
It is already testing that in New Jersey and Hawaii, and intends to build a Spanish wave farm later this year along with Iberdrola, the company that is buying ScottishPower.
Enterprise Minister Nicol Stephen announced the allocation of public funding, which was £5m more than the £8m previously announced. He said the extra money was in response to the ideas coming forward for support.
He said £2.5m of the fund would be spent on upgrading the Orkney centre, increasing its capacity for linking experimental marine power generators to the electricity power grid. "Today marks a vital milestone in Scotland's drive to be the world leader in the development of marine renewables. There are some real Scottish success stories among the grant recipients."
Speaking about the Pelamis scheme, which is also being trialled off Portugal, he claimed: "This will be the world's biggest commercial wave project - significantly bigger than the major Portuguese scheme.
"Scotland has the potential to generate a quarter of Europe's marine energy and kick-starting the sector is vital if we are to create a significant industry based in Scotland and meet our long-term renewables targets."
Executive backing for marine power projects was welcomed by Friends of the Earth Scotland, which added that the early achievement of Scotland's 18% renewables target was proof of what was possible with political will.
Chief executive Duncan McLaren said: "Wave and tidal power could supply a fifth of the UK's electricity needs and Scotland is ideally placed to generate significant amounts of this pollution-free energy."
Scottish Greens doubted the minister's claim that Orkney would soon have the world's biggest wave farm, saying the eventual size of the Portuguese project would dwarf the Scottish one.
Shiona Baird, the party's co-convener, said that if the executive had followed that example, "Scotland would be taking a significant step towards creating the low-carbon economy we desperately need to remain competitive, as well as playing a significant role in an industry worth £500bn worldwide".
SNP energy spokesman Richard Lochhead said the executive spending was too little too late. "The SNP welcome any additional investment in marine energy but under this Labour and LibDem government, we have had to wait eight years for it.
"The £13m is a fraction of what it costs to build a multi-billion pound nuclear power station, not to mention the projected £90bn cost of cleaning up existing nuclear power stations."
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