A decision on whether to pull the plug on Cornwall’s £42million wave hub will have to be made within the next two years.

Bob Egerton, Cornwall Council Cabinet member for planning and economy, said the council would have to soon make a decision on the future of the hub.

The pioneering Wave Hub, which is located 12 miles off the coast of Hayle, was recently reported to not have produced any energy in the six years since it was installed.

The undersea socket, the brainchild of the South West Regional Development Agency, can accommodate up to four power-producing devices but has hosted only one project since 2010. A second potential customer decided to test its own device off the coast of Australia rather than off Cornwall, which has some of the biggest waves in Europe.

Carnegie – an Australian company – was given £9.6m from the European Regional Development Fund to test its device in Cornwall but pulled out.

The Wave Hub was transferred to Cornwall Council by the Government in 2016 in a deal which also saw £14m of funding provided.

Conservative councillor Dave Biggs has now asked whether it is time to pull the plug on the wave hub.

Speaking at the council’s Cabinet meeting on Wednesday he said: “We had from the Government £10million to take on what was an asset which is now probably a liability.”

Mr Biggs asked whether the council had sufficient funds to decommission the Wave Hub if necessary.

He added: “Is it time to draw a line under this asset?”

Councillor Julian German, deputy leader of the council, said he had been having meetings with MP George Eustice regarding the Wave Hub.

Mr Egerton said he thought the Wave Hub was a “fantastic” project but was using technology which was “unproven”.

He added: “Unfortunately in the period that the wave hub has been there it has not been possible to bring (the technology) forward to use.”

However he said it was “too early to give up on this” and said it was important to see if progress can be made.

He added: “But we will have to make a decision on the future of it in the next year or two.

“I hope that we don’t get to a position where the reserves we allocate to it are below the level needed to decommission it.

“I am hoping that they can bring something to fruition in the next year or two. But if they are not successful we may have to use up the funds to decommission the project.”