Archive for February, 2012
Tidal Energy Limited completes first phase of onshore works in Ramsey Sound
Preparatory work to enable the DeltaStream demonstration tidal energy device to be connected to the existing electricity distribution network at St Justinians - when it is installed later this year - has been completed in Ramsey Sound, Pembrokeshire. Welsh Marine Renewable Energy Company - Tidal Energy Ltd – appointed civil engineering and building construction Company, Raymond Brown Ltd from Bridgend to carry out the work which lasted two weeks.Chris Williams, Development Director of Tidal Energy said, “We have broken down the onshore works into two phases to minimise any disruption to the area and to avoid the tourism seasons. “The first phase of this work incorporates laying cable ducts from the cliff edge to our compound site in the RNLI’s field, which we have now successfully finished. We ensured that disruption was kept to a minimum and the site has now been reinstated to its original condition. “The second phase of works will take place within the compound area in the RNLI field. These works are planned to take place later this year.”Consent for the 12 month demonstration project was granted by the Welsh Government (WG) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in March 2011.
New report – Wave Resources in South Wales and a Comparison with Wave Climate at the Wave Hub
Executive Summary A variety of resource assessments have calculated available areas, constraints and possible installed capacities for wave energy in Wales. While these are useful from a strategic point of view, from an operational or project planning point of view, analysis of measured wave statistics is required. This work presents data from wave buoys within and close to the Pembrokeshire resource areas. The viability of three types of wave energy converters, an attenuator, point absorber and an offshore overtopping device, are considered based on data measured at the Turbot Bank (51.603N, 5.1W) buoy and the Aberporth (52.3N, 4.5W) buoy. Comparison between the measured Welsh resource and data collected at the Wave Hub site in Cornwall is presented. Both Wales and Cornwall have similar wave resources with differences in device capacity factor of between 0-2%. This makes Pembrokeshire a very attractive location for the deployment of wave energy converters in the UK, especially given the proximity to large port facilities for maintenance and population centres along the M4 corridor for electricity use.To download the report please click here
Alderney to provide FAB link between Britain and France
Alderney’s tidal development company Alderney Renewable Energy (ARE) says it has agreed to develop an electricity interconnector cable between France, Alderney and Britain. The different organisations involved – ARE, its partner Transmission Capital (TCL) and French grid operator RTE (Réseau de Transport d'Électricité) visualise an interconnector, known as the FABLink, that will be able to export up to 4 gigawatts of tidal power from Alderney's waters and create a power trading link between the two countries.The company also says it has agreed to develop tidal arrays in Alderney waters with French naval defence and energy company DCNS, which owns a stake in Open Hydro. Both agreements are supported by the UK and French governments. As the agreement was signed, the French Industry Minister Eric Besson and the UK Energy Secretary Edward Davey declared in a statement: “We are determined to promote the potential of marine energies. We welcome the plan for a tidal turbine farm off Alderney-Aurigny in the Channel Islands. The commercial agreements signed today between Alderney Renewable Energy (ARE) / DCNS and ARE / Transmission Capital / Réseau de Transport d’Electricité are major steps towards the realisation of a significant new renewable energy project which could rank among the largest ...
Siemens acquires majority stake in Marine Current Turbines
German manufacturing company Siemens has announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Marine Current Turbines (MCT). The company had already taken a 45% share in the company in November 2011. It stated that it considers the acquisition to be a major addition to its €30 billion environmental portfolio and described the move as a step towards securing a leading position in the tidal sector. According to newswire Bloomberg, Siemens has increased its stake in the company to over 90%.“We will continue to drive the commercialization of this promising technology,” stated Ted Scheidegger, CEO of the Solar & Hydro Division of Siemens Energy. On his side, the MCT CEO Andrew Tyler declared the company was satisfied with the investment: “Siemens’ acquisition is hugely welcomed by staff and management at MCT and signals great confidence in MCT’s achievements over many years,” he said.Siemens’ increased stake in the company sends out positive signals for the development of tidal arrays planned in Scotland (Kyle Rhea) and Wales (Skerries). “We have proved the performance and reliability of our SeaGen technology and we continue to invest time and money to improve SeaGen’s operation. Coupled with the backing of Siemens Energy, we are confident that there will be strong investment interest ...
Wave and tidal power need support, say MPs
The government should increase support for wave and tidal power to preserve the UK's global leadership, say MPs. The Energy and Climate Change Committee says the UK had in the past lost its early lead on wind power through lack of support, and must not make the same mistake again on marine energy.Its report recommends increasing funding and improving links between UK and Scottish programmes. The Carbon Trust recently said marine power could create 10,000 jobs by 2020. By 2050, it said, the global market could be worth £340bn, with the UK claiming about one-fifth of the business. And with the UK possessing seven out of the eight large-scale prototypes deployed anywhere in the world, it was well-placed to lead the global race, the MPs said."In the 1980s the UK squandered the lead it had in wind power development, and now Denmark has a large share of the worldwide market in turbine manufacturing," said Tim Yeo MP, the committee's chairman. "It should be a priority for the government to ensure that the UK remains at the cutting edge of developments in this technology and does not allow our lead to slip."The committee's report, The Future of Marine Renewables ...
More than 1.1 Million People Employed in EU’s Renewable Energy Sector
More than 1.1 million people have jobs in Europe's renewable energy sector, according to new figures released from EurObserv'ER, a renewable energy tracking project supported by the European Commission. The numbers, which don’t even account for the massive boom in renewables development in 2011, show a 25 percent increase in employment between 2009 and 2010, bringing documented jobs in the renewable energy sector throughout Europe to 1,144,000.The boost in activity in 2010 represented about €127 billion ($166 billion) in economic value, a 15 percent increase over 2009. Unlike some reports documenting green jobs in the United States, these figures only include renewable fuels, heat and electricity. They do not include jobs in mass transportation, recycling, and green building design.They show a very healthy diversity in Europe’s renewable energy sector. According to the 2010 figures, the top three sectors for employment were biomass (273,000), solar PV (268,110), and wind (253,145). The next largest were biogas (52,810) and solar thermal (49,845). Behind those sectors were ground source heat pumps, waste-to-energy, small hydro, and geothermal.The increase in jobs corresponded with an increase in consumption of renewable energy. In 2010, renewables accounted for 12.4% of final energy consumption in Europe — up from ...
Marine Current Turbines’ SeaGen tidal turbine gets environmental green light
Marine Current Turbines’ SeaGen tidal turbine operating in Northern Irish waters has been given the green light for its environmental impact. According to a report by environmental consultancy Royal Haskoning, in collaboration with an independent Science Group, which includes representatives from Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Queen’s University Belfast, the Sea Mammal Research Unit and others, the SeaGen turbine has no major impact on marine life.The 1.2 MW turbine has been operating in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough since 2008 but appears to have had no significant effect on the local environment. The Environmental Monitoring Programme (EMP) found no changes in the numbers of seals or porpoises, which appear to have continued swimming past the device without ‘any concern’ – although the report indicates that they do tend to avoid the device.Nor did the assessment find any significant change to the speed or direction of flow of the tides within Strangford Narrows. “This is the most comprehensive study of the environmental impact of marine energy devices undertaken anywhere in the world,” says David Erwin, the chair of the SeaGen Scientific Group.According to Frank Fortune, technical director at Royal Haskoning, the findings indicate that SeaGen will be ...
Ecotricity waves hello to marine energy
UK renewable energy company Ecotricity announced today that it is investing in a new wave energy technology called Searaser in a bid to add marine power to its portfolio. The Searaser technology, which was devised by British engineer Alvin Smith, relies on pumping seawater between two buoys, one of the surface and one weighted to the seabed. As the ocean swell moves the buoys up and down, pistons pump pressurised seawater through a pipe to an onshore turbine, which produces electricity.One of the advantages of the technology, explains Smith, is that it can be used to supply energy on demand. Seawater is pumped into a coastal storage reservoir and released as required. “Most existing wave technologies seek to generate electricity in the sea itself,” says Smith. “[But] most other devices are very expensive to manufacture and maintain. Searaser doesn’t generate the electricity out at sea. It simply uses the motion of the ocean swell to pump seawater through an onshore generator.”Ecotricity says its investment in Searaser will support the next stage of development, which will see a commercial-scale device in the sea within 12 months and 200 units deployed within five years. The company’s decision has been ...
Technology Strategy Board announces consortium to set up Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
The Technology Strategy Board announced that it has selected a consortium consisting of Carbon Trust, National Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC) and Ocean Energy Innovation to set up the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, headquartered in Glasgow with an operational centre in the North East of England (Northumberland).The Catapult will focus on technologies applicable to offshore wind, tidal and wave power, strengthening the UK industry’s position to capture up to 15% of this market worth more than £64 billion globally by 2050.The centre is expected to open for business in the summer of 2012 and will build strong links with centres of excellence across the UK, such as the European Marine Energy Centre, Wave Hub and the recently announced marine energy park in the South West of England. It will receive up to £10m per annum over five years from the Technology Strategy Board. Once fully established, Catapult centres will receive broadly equal funding from the core Technology Strategy Board grant, from R&D grants collaboratively with business won competitively by the Catapult, and from contract research funded fully by business - the one-third, one-third, one-third model.TSB's intention to set up a technology and innovation centre in Offshore Renewable Energy was announced in May 2011.Please ...
Atlantic Array Public Consultation Summary
RWE npower renewables ran a period of formal public consultation on the proposed Atlantic Array Offshore Wind Farm between the 10th September and 10th November 2011.To keep you updated on progress, RWE have produced a summary of the feedback recieved as a result of the consultation exercise. The report document provides an overview of the responses collected during the formal consultation, highlights the issues most people wanted to talk to about, and explains how feedback is being considered as RWE progress the environmental impact assessment process. Within the document you will also find information on the next steps as the proposal progresses.To download the document click here Atlantic Array Public Consultation Summary
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