The University of Edinburgh, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, The European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney and the New and Renewable Energy Centre in Northumberland have formed the UK Centre for Marine Renewable Energy (NAREC) in response to the £50 Marine Development Fund set up by the UK Government.

The connection to the UK research base is via the EPSRC-funded SuperGen Marine Energy Consortium at the University of Edinburgh. Five universities in the consortium are working to reduce the risks, advance the technology, and accelerate the generation of power from the sea.

The New and Renewable Energy Centre at Blyth in Northumberland is a dedicated facility in which large scale models of various devices can be fully tested before full-scale systems are installed in the open sea. NaREC is also involved in developments of other renewable energy technologies including those designed for domestic application.