MEP Seminar 2010

A Marine Renewable Energy Industry Seminar was held at Pembrokeshire Technium on the 9th February, 2010. The event, organised by the Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum and hosted by Welsh Assembly Government was a great success and attracted over 80 delegates with a working interest in the MRE industry. The one day seminar provided a wide range of detailed presentations from WAG, DECC, The Crown Estate, CCW, Halcrow, RPS, MHPA, The Low Carbon Research Institute, Western Power and The European Ocean Energy Association. Each session culminated in a riveting Q&A with lots of questions directed at the panel of presenters. The programme for the event can be found here Marine Renewable Energy Industry Seminar Programme 2010 .

Whilst also giving a U.K. perspective the main theme of the day was the great potential for MRE in Pembrokeshire. Alan Morgan (DECC) provided information on the U.K. MRE Strategy & Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Marine Renewables Proving Fund. Dr Ron Loveland (WAG) talked about the potential for Wales to become a world leader in Marine Renewables and Dr Dave Tudor (Crown Estate) gave an overview of plans for MRE in Wales. Session two started with Ivor Rogers and a detailed overview of grid capacity in Pembrokeshire, Dr Kate Smith (CCW) gave environmental considerations while Joe Besch (MHPA) outlined the infrastructure in place and the potential to support the developing MRE sector in Pembrokeshire. Dr Miles Willis (MERG) provided the audience with details on research into MRE being carried out Wales and Dr Hans Cr Sorenson (European Ocean Energy Association) gave an overview of the huge wave power potential in Europe.

The afternoon saw Sally Kazer (RPS) and Sean Matthews (Halcrow) talk about the development of a MRE Strategic Framework for Welsh Waters and proposed marine infrastructure for Pembrokeshire. The day finished with an interesting Q&A involving all the speakers. The whole day was filmed by Tinderfarm and the talks are available to view below and throughout the site. We have also included PDF versions of the presentations which are available to download. The seminar aimed to fulfil two main priorities for development of marine renewables in Pembrokeshire: to provide an overview of what is currently happening within this sector and to formulate a focused and assigned marine renewables action plan with timescales for delivery. The Marine Renewables Action Plan can be downloaded here Draft MRE Work Plan 2010 If you have any comments to add to the plan then please contact us.