IN-DEPTH: Learning from success and disappointments

The Scottish Government believes the industry is making good progress as it gears up to exploit the massive wave energy potential. 

The Scottish Government is collaborating with technology developers, utilities, the grid owners, the Crown Estate and others - under the Marine Energy Group - on a roadmap for wave and tidal power.

The government admits that other countries harbour similar aspirations to develop these technologies and it can’t afford to be complacent. The focus is also on meeting the marine environment and planning issues head on, making sure that all the right voices are being heard.

One of its major initiatives has been the announcement of The Saltire Prize in December last year. The government believes that this prize will be transformational - challenging the brightest and the best minds worldwide.

The Saltire Prize fulfils the commitment from the Scottish Government, set out in the 2007 SNP manifesto, to support emerging technologies that can contribute to sustainable power generation. It is estimated that there is 21.5 Gigawatts (GW) of commercial marine energy capacity that could be harnessed from the waters around Scotland.

The aim of the Saltire Prize and many of the other initiatives being taken forward this year is to bring a greater profile to the sector, highlighting its ambitions and the important contribution the sector could make to Scotland, the UK and the EU’s renewable energy mixes, says Lynne Vallance, head of Offshore Renewables Policy team, Scottish Government.

“Such initiatives will hopefully lead to greater confidence throughout the sector, leading to greater investor interest, which will go a long way in pushing the technology forward, especially in these difficult economic times,” added Vallance, who is scheduled to speak at the 2nd Annual International Wave Energy Summit 2009 in London (June 30 – July 1) this year.

Over 100 registrations of interest have been received from interested parties in 23 countries. 

“The finalised guidelines and application packs will be available in the summer and given the level of interest received to date, we’re confident that many parties will seek to compete in the Saltire Prize,” said Vallance.

Planning

It is being said that the marine energy industry has the potential to do in five years, what has taken 25 years in the wind industry.

The Scottish Government estimates it will take two years to prepare and publish the National Marine Spatial Plan. The industry feels this deadline must not be allowed to slip.

Good progress is already being made, said Vallance. 

She added, “Faber Maunsell Metoc is taking forward an Interim Marine Spatial Plan for the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters and will shortly be consulting on how this plan will be taken forward.”

In March this year, Faber Maunsell | AECOM, in association with Metoc plc, won a contract to produce a Marine Spatial Plan of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters in the north of Scotland. That time it was shared that the Scottish Government will bring forward a Marine Bill that will ensure sustainable seas around Scotland. The Marine Spatial Plan will be a key part of the future management of the Pentland Firth and waters around Orkney. One of the key objectives of the plan will be to map areas of opportunity for the development of tidal and wave power.
 
The Marine Spatial Plan will set out opportunities for main marine energy resource area and act as a planning tool for developers, regulators and existing users of the marine environment.

Faber Maunsell and Metoc were to hold initial discussions on the plan with the Highland Council and Orkney Islands Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Renewables Forum, the Crown Estate and others.

Even as the industry acknowledges that regional planning priority has been granted to the Pentland Firth and other areas with significant marine resource, it is recommended that the Scottish Government should not “overlook the Outer Hebrides as an area of vital importance to the wave energy industry”. 

Vallance said the immediate focus is around the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters region to respond to The Crown Estate’s recent leasing round. However other areas such as the Western Isles and Solway are beginning to emerge as potential regional initiatives under MESPG and will be considered in due course.

Gathering scientific data

It is being recommended that the Scottish Government must develop a focused approach to gathering scientific data about “our seas and a streamlined mechanism for analysing this data.”

According to Vallance, understanding how technologies interact with the marine environment and strategically planning for their deployment are important elements in aligning technological development with the sustainable capacity of seas.  

She mentioned that good progress is already being made via the Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group (MESPG).  

She highlighted that MESPG, chaired by Marine Scotland, has agreed a project plan focussing on:  

(i) marine planning,
(ii) simplified consenting,
(iii) environmental monitoring and research, and
(iv) linking to/facilitating regional initiatives. 

“Its priority task is to develop locational guidance for the marine renewable sector. This can include marine spatial planning, other marine planning approaches, strategic environmental assessment and the appropriate assessment elements where European designated areas or species may be affected by development plans,” said Vallance.

Going forward, she believes that the key to success will be learning from the success and disappointments as developers deploy their devices in the sea.  Not all will be successful, but important lessons will be learned.  For the sector to continue to move forward it will be important that these lessons (both positive and negative) are shared openly, to allow developers to learn from the experiences of others.

2nd Annual International Wave Energy Summit 2009

Wave Energy Today is scheduled to conduct its 2nd Annual International Wave Energy Summit 2009 in London (June 30 – July 1) this year.

For more information, click here: http://www.waveenergytoday.com/IWES/agenda.shtml
Or Contact: Gargi Iyer by email gargi@waveenergytoday.com