The UK government has launched a consultation seeking views on the potential for innovative marine energy, including floating offshore wind and wave and tidal power.

The consultation, which is open until 11.45pm local time on 30 September, is intended to feed into the country's forthcoming energy white paper.

Views are being sought on the scope and potential of these technologies to “better our understanding of the scale and location of projects that are in development, the opportunities they offer, the timescales for their development, and the challenges that they may face”, the government said.

It added that some projects are well known, but others less so.

“We are keen to hear from a range of stakeholders,” the government said.

The new consultation will also build on a previous consultation on proposed changes to the Contracts for Difference scheme, including how to support emerging renewable technologies which are still in a pre-commercial stage of development but have potential to reduce their costs over time.

“Several respondents to that consultation noted that both floating offshore wind and other marine energy technologies had potential to achieve similar cost reductions to fixed offshore wind, and that they could enable the UK’s significant offshore energy resource to be used to full effect,” the government said.