The Scottish Government and Highlands and Island Enterprise plan to extend £3m in funding to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney for the development of wave energy in the UK.
The funds will enable EMEC to expand its testing facilities through the creation of an additional berth for a wave device connected to the grid.
EMEC will also implement a £1.1 million project to examine methods that allow support vessels to install and maintain wave and tidal devices in the waters of Pentland Firth and Orkney.
Ewing noted that accurate grid infrastructure was a necessity to take advantage of the country’s renewable power potential.
"We must ensure that the transmission charging regime does not discourage development from taking place around Scotland’s islands," Ewing said at the annual Wave and Tidal Energy conference in London.
Supporting the development, Renewable UK chief executive Maria McCaffery remarked that that the funding will drive investments and growth in the wave and tidal sector.
"EMEC is continuing to attract global interest as an advanced workshop for developing wave and tidal energy," McCaffery added.
Meanwhile, the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Energy Park and South West Marine Energy Park signed a partnership agreement to collaborate on innovative ideas between England and Scotland.
This working partnership between the two marine energy parks will help to attract green investment leading to technological advances as the sector moves towards commercialisation and we invest in the skills of the future," said McCaffery.