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South West RDA appoints team to map marine power
04 March 2010
A project to map offshore renewable energy potential around the
coast of South West England has been announced today (March 4).
The South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) has appointed
renewable energy consultancy PMSS to lead the £100,000 study. It
will examine the potential for wave, tidal and offshore wind
installations up to 2030.
This will inform future investment decisions by the industry,
feed into the ongoing consultation about Marine Conservation Zones
through the Finding Sanctuary project and help the South West
retain its leading role in the development of marine
renewables.
The announcement was made at today’s RenewableUK Wave and Tidal
conference in London, during an update from the RDA about its
pioneering Wave Hub marine energy project in Cornwall.
Claire Gibson, Director of Sustainable Resources at the South
West RDA, said: “The ability to deploy commercial installations is
crucial to the development of the marine energy industry in the
South West and this study will map the potential over the next 20
years.
“It will provide data invaluable to the industry and will help
ensure that marine renewables are given due consideration in future
discussions about planning for the South West’s marine environment.
This includes the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for
marine energy confirmed by the Government today, which we welcome.
We have long championed the need for an SEA as an essential
pre-cursor to licensing areas of sea for commercial development,
and we look forward to its swift progress.”
The RDA’s resource study has been welcomed by Chris Bale, Chief
Executive of Ocean Electric Power, a marine renewable energy
project development company based in Plymouth.
He said: “Marine renewables is a nascent industry with the
potential to make an enormous contribution to tackling climate
change and boosting the economy, but it needs support. What’s
important is that marine spatial planning policy doesn’t compromise
the emergence of this important sector, so the RDA’s study is very
timely.”
PMSS, which has offices in Bath, is a leading consultancy in
renewables with particular expertise in the marine environment,
working on wave and tidal projects with companies such as Marine
Current Turbines, Aquamarine Power, Atlantis Resources, Scottish
Power Renewables and with the public sector.
Andrew Prior, Director of Environment of PMSS, said: “As a
company with offices in the South West of England, PMSS is
delighted to be working with the South West RDA to support the
deployment of marine renewables and boost the economy of the
region."
The South West was the first area of the UK to be designated a
Low Carbon Economic Area because of its strength in marine
renewables in July last year.
The South West RDA’s flagship marine energy project is Wave Hub,
which will create the world’s largest test site for wave energy
technology by building a grid-connected socket on the seabed, 10
miles off the coast, to which wave power devices can be connected
and their performance evaluated.
The first phase of onshore construction was completed last month
and work began this week on a new electricity sub-station in Hayle
where Wave Hub’s subsea cable will come ashore on the north coast
of Cornwall.
Wave Hub will be completed this year with the first wave energy
devices expected to be deployed in 2011.
The £42 million project is being funded with £12.5 million from
the South West RDA, £20 million from the European Regional
Development Fund Convergence Programme and £9.5 million from the UK
government.
Ends
For more information contact Jason Clark, on 01208-77900 or via
jason.clark@dca-pr.co.uk
Notes to Editors
1. The South West RDA works for and promotes a modern, stronger
and more resilient economy across South West England. Our work
involves creating better jobs, successful businesses, more
prosperous cities, towns and villages within an economy that uses
less carbon and will still be thriving in 20, 50 and 100 years
time.
2. Wave Hub is a major marine renewables infrastructure project
that will create an electrical ‘socket’ on the seabed in some 50
metres of water around 16kms (10 miles) off the coast of Cornwall
in South West England and connected to the National Grid via a
subsea cable. Groups of wave energy devices will be connected to
Wave Hub and float on or just below the surface of the sea to
assess how well they work and how much power they generate before
going into full commercial production. There are four berths
available at Wave Hub, each covering two square kilometres. Wave
Hub will have an initial maximum capacity of 20MW (enough
electricity to power approximately 7,000 homes) but has been
designed with the potential to scale up to 50MW in the future. The
project will be built in the summer of 2010 with the first wave
energy devices expected to be deployed in 2011.
3. Legal agreements have been signed with leading renewable
energy company Ocean Power Technologies Limited to take the first
berth at Wave Hub using its PowerBuoy wave energy converter. Images
of PowerBuoy can be downloaded at
www.flickr.com/photos/southwestengland. Discussions are ongoing
with other device developers.
4. JDR Cable Systems Ltd has been appointed to manufacture the
armoured 26.5 km (16.5 mile) 33kV cable and hub assembly for Wave
Hub at its factory in Hartlepool in a contract worth £7.6 million.
The cable will weigh 1,500 tonnes. The hub will be about the size
of a Mini car and sit on the seabed. It will split the main cable
linking it to the National Grid on shore into four 300m cables to
which groups of wave energy devices can be attached and monitored
for how they perform.
5. Powermann Ltd of Poole in Dorset has been appointed to handle
the £1 million onshore electrical works that will connect Wave Hub
to the UK’s National Grid network.
6. In Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly the Convergence
Programmes are made up of European Regional Development Fund (£347
million) and European Social Fund (£153 million). Convergence
Programmes will run until 2013 and follow the successful Objective
One Programme and prior to that Objective 5b. For further
information see: www.convergencecornwall.com.
Convergence helpline telephone: 0800 0280120.