Wales looks toward green future

The company plans to locate its wave energy converter off the Welsh coast for testing over three to five years. The barge produces electricity directly from the power of the water by first enhancing, then pulling in oncoming waves to turbines in the bottom of the structure.

Russell said that the project could produce enough electricity each year during the testing phase to meet the demands of between 2,500 and 2,000 homes.

The company hopes to eventually sink around 10 of the structures out at sea to form Britain's first commercial wave energy farm -but the plan is dependent on nearly US$71 million of extra funding Wave Dragon is seeking from private sources.

Wales' government is "very committed to the renewables goal, but we need the cutting-edge technologies that the private sector can offer," said David Jones, vice president of International Business Wales, the trade and investment arm of the Welsh Assembly.

Mining, once a mainstay of the economy, is no longer a major source of revenue or employment in Wales. The economy is now underpinned largely by the services and production industries. Agriculture, forestry and fishing also contribute to a lesser degree.

In 1979, Wales' gross domestic product was 93 percent of the British average. That has since fallen to just 77 percent. Over the same period, Ireland -the so-called Celtic tiger -has seen its GDP go from 60 percent of the UK average to 104 percent thanks to low corporate tax, investment in higher education and EU membership.

Wales hopes to emulate that success with its state funding for renewables and clean technology.

On the outskirts of Cardiff, where G24 Innovations makes silicon-free thin film solar cells to charge mobile phones, the company is planning to install a massive wind turbine in its parking lot later this year.

That will enable the factory to run on renewable energy and eventually sell electricity back to the grid -making it one of the first factories in the world to use renewable energy to make a renewable product.

G24 is initially targeting the African and Indian markets, where mobile phone penetration is growing but electricity grids are in short supply. The company already has a contract with Vodacom in Tanzania, Lesotho and Kenya.