The UK Government will today give planning approval for the world's first large scale wave farm off the coast of Cornwall in South West England.

It means the £28 million project, which has been developed by the South West of England Regional Development Agency (RDA), has cleared the last major regulatory hurdle. Funding for the project has already been approved by the RDA.

The consent announcement will be made today by John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Juliet Williams, chairman of the South West RDA, said: "This announcement is a huge step forward for Wave Hub and is a vote of confidence in the RDA's ability to create a groundbreaking renewable energy project in South West England that will lead the world in the development of wave energy technology."

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Wave Hub is a world first and will include an onshore substation connected to electrical equipment on the seabed about 16 kilometres (10 miles) offshore via a sub-sea cable.

Companies developing wave energy technology will be able to plug into Wave Hub to test their wave energy devices on a scale never seen anywhere before. Four companies have already been chosen to use Wave Hub.

Wave Hub will put South West England and the UK at the forefront of emerging wave energy technology by providing a leased and consented area of sea for the pre-commercial testing of wave energy devices.

A new independent economic impact assessment, commissioned by the RDA, has shown that Wave Hub could create 1,800 jobs and £560 million in the UK economy over 25 years. Almost 1,000 of these jobs and £332 million would be generated in South West England.

Wave Hub could generate enough electricity for 7,500 homes, directly saving 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over 25 years. This would support South West England's target for generating 15 per cent of the region's power from renewable sources by 2010.

(JM)