EAST Anglia's coastline is to be included in a new 'scoping' exercise to identify suitable new sites for wave and tidal power.The region is thought to have considerable potential for this kind of power generation and this was demonstrated recently when an Essex company installed a pilot 'wave power' machine in the North Sea off Lowestoft.

EAST Anglia's coastline is to be included in a new 'scoping' exercise to identify suitable new sites for wave and tidal power.

The region is thought to have considerable potential for this kind of power generation and this was demonstrated recently when an Essex company installed a pilot 'wave power' machine in the North Sea off Lowestoft.

The Government is planning to survey the entire English and Welsh coast for suitable new sites.

While off-shore wave power is unlikely to be controversial, any attempt to put tidal power barrages across the region's estuaries will be fiercely opposed by conservationists.

The estuaries of Suffolk and north Essex are nationally and internationally important for wading birds, some species of which are in decline.

The plans for a 'scoping' exercise around the coast were announced by Climate Change Minister, Lord Hunt at the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) Wave & Tidal 09 conference in Bath, attended by 500 delegates from around the world.

It is the first step to running a full marine energy Strategic Environmental Assessment for England and Wales.

Conference chairman, Alan Moore, said: 'This announcement is great news for an industry which is a growing UK success story. It will open Britain's coastline and estuaries to clean, green energy that will help power a low carbon economy.'

The move follows close on the heels of the latest Budget, which allocated �405 million to emerging low carbon technology manufacturing such as wave and tidal power.