Archive for the ‘Local News’ Category
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
UK Wave and Tidal Energy Strategic Areas Project – January Update
This briefing is designed to give you a high level update on the progress of The Crown Estate’s UK Wave and Tidal Energy Strategic Area identification project in two parts; the development of the strategic areas and our engagement with stakeholders to date. The key points are: The project focus is on assessing areas of sea which are suitable for wave and tidal energy development and includes considerations of resource and other technical parameters in order to identify strategic areas. The outputs of this project are to inform our internal thinking about how to best manage the resources we have responsibility for, just as we do for marine minerals and offshore wind energy. This project is neither part of an immediate plan to lease further sites, nor should it imply that The Crown Estate we will be leasing further sites imminently. It is addressing the spatial potential to lease at commercial scale only and not looking into the appropriate timing to lease at commercial scale; this is for later discussion, informed by the spatial analysis Using MaRS (our Marine Resource System) and through collaborative work with statutory planners, the project is now at a stage in which we have initial ...
Welsh Marine Renewable Infrastructure Study
To follow on from MRESF, the Welsh Government has commenced the Marine Renewable Infrastructure Study. This involves preparation of a number of options for marine energy development and particularly the associated marine infrastructure that needs to be provided to support energy developers. In understanding the ‘Infrastructure’ required, we need to consider everything that supports the actual energy generators themselves, ranging from foundations, moorings, navigational marks and lights, cables, connecting hubs, communications, landfall and grid connection, highway access, ports services and even proximity to demand and consenting requirements. Stage 1 - will engage with stakeholders to identify industry needs. In order to promote discussion we have proposed a number of alternative non-site-specific development concepts that could be used to support the Marine Renewables Industry. These could be small scale test facilities for single devices, multi-device arrays, or full-scale commercial deployment sites. These outline concept proposals cover both wave and tidal energy. Stage 1 is due to be completed in February 2012. Stage 2 - Having determined industry requirements and understood the appetite for provision of infrastructure to support marine energy development, the second phase will consider the MRESF data in detail to allow us to find suitable sites for ...
CCW scoops major Award for work to assess the Welsh coast’s sensitivity to tidal stream developments
A study, commissioned by the Countryside Council for Wales, to assess the sensitivity of coastal landscapes and seascapes to tidal stream developments has won the Landscape Institute’s Strategic Landscape Planning Award for 2011.The study forms a key part of the evidence which CCW will use to advise Government and marine planners to help ensure that tidal stream energy devices are sited in the right place, where they cause the least damage to Wales’ coastal landscapes and seascapes.Elinor Gwynn, Countryside Council for Wales’ Head of People and Places said: “Renewable energy developments are likely to play a key role in the UK’s current shift towards a low-carbon future. CCW is committed to working with developers and regulators to support the development of marine renewable energy in locations, and using technologies, that avoid significant impacts on Wales’ natural heritage, including our seascapes and coastal landscapes. It is vital that the advice we provide is based on the best possible information and this Award reflects the importance we attach to this work.”The study, commissioned from Land Use Consultants (LUC), has provided CCW with a pioneering GIS-based tool which identifies the levels of sensitivity of Wales’ coastal landscapes and seascapes to impacts from tidal ...
The Crown Estate launch new project investigating UK wave and tidal Strategic Areas
Around the coastlines of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the UK has significant wave and tidal stream energy resources, with potential to meet 15-20% of national energy demand. Technologies to generate electricity from these resources are currently under development, with companies currently demonstrating prototype devices with unit capacities of around 1 MW. While it will be some time before projects comprising large arrays of devices are commercially viable, due to the need to grow the technologies’ performance track records, the industry is already starting to plan such projects.The Crown Estate are also taking a longer term view, towards large-scale development of multiple gigawatts of projects elsewhere around the coast. They want to develop a better understanding, shared with the industry and government, of the true potential for such development, such that when the industry is ready to take up this potential, The Crown Estate can undertake leasing to award further development rights. They are now running a project to do this.The Crown Estate call areas of seabed that have potential for large-scale development of wave and/or tidal stream energy ‘strategic areas’ or ‘key resource areas’. One such area is already defined: the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. The objective of the project ...
LCRI Conference, Low Carbon Innovation: From Policy to Practice 15-16 November 2011- National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NP
Conference includes guest speakers at two key plenary events• Day one - Wales and the world – the low carbon arena -Prof Phil Jones, Environment Minister John Griffiths and Dr Kevin Bygate.• Day two - Prosperity and business in the low carbon sector -Prof Peter Pearson, Baroness Eluned Morgan, Dr Ron Loveland anda senior representative of the Chinese Government.Twenty eight technical / academic sessions run in four themes across the two day conference.Theme 1: Low carbon policies and public engagementTheme 2: New and emerging technologies and skills and training for the low carbon economyTheme 3: Energy supply, low carbon cities and regions, scenario modelling and low carbon futuresTheme 4: Environmental impacts and appraisal with economic costs and business opportunities.During these sessions research and development across the LCRI’s six main research strands of Bio-energy, Built Environment, Hydrogen, Large Scale Power Generation, Marine and Solar PV will be presented by academics, industrial partners and government representatives. There will also be exhibition and academic poster displays. A full programme is available at http://www.lcri.org.uk/, and will be emailed to attendees on registration.
Detailed tidal flow research in Pembrokeshire to continue
As part of the LCRI Marine R&D Programme and the Celtic Odyssey project the Research Vessel Guiding Light (Cardiff University) undertook hydrographic surveys in Ramsey Sound and amongst the Bishops and Clerks. The aim of the deployment was to investigate further the complex of hydrodynamics in the area. The unique dataset will subsequently be used by the various partners collaborating within LCRI-Marine (engineers, modellers, biologists, oceanographers, developers etc.) to identify (and potentially discount) areas in the vicinity of Ramsey Sound and the Bishops and Clerks deemed suitable for the installation of tidal turbines. RV Guiding Light was used as a research platform to monitor tidal flow and bathymetry using a high resolution Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and single-beam echosounder respectively. A total of 128 survey lines were completed, equating to a total length of approximately 96 nautical miles. The Celtic Odyssey project will return in May 2012 to continue research in the area. For more details click here
Atlantic Array offshore wind farm project holds public exhibitions in Pembrokeshire
Public exhibitions of Atlantic Array ProjectThe public exhibitions events in September will give the opportunity for local people to meet the Atlantic Array project team. Visitors can also find out more information about the proposed wind farm, including progress to date on the environmental assessment and photomontages to provide an indication of what the Atlantic Array proposal could look like if constructed.The locations and timings of the public exhibitions, which are being held along the South Wales coasts, are as follows: South WalesDateTimeVenue21st September12pm- 8pmThe Grand Pavilion, The Esplanade, Porthcawl CF36 3YW22nd September12pm- 8pmFourwinds Hotel, Princess Margaret Way, Port Talbot SA12 6QW23rd September12pm- 8pmNorth Gower Hotel, Llanrhidian, North Gower, SA3 1EE24th September10am- 5pmCivic Centre, Oystermouth Rd, Swansea, SA1 9SD27th September12pm- 8pmStradey Park Hotel, Furnace, Llanelli SA15 4HA28th September12pm- 8pmFourcroft Hotel, North Beach, Tenby, SA70 8AP29th September12pm- 8pmCleddau Bridge Hotel, Essex Road, Pembroke Dock SA72 6EGFor more information about the project Click here
Tidal Energy Limited wins £390,000 Carbon Trust grant
The Carbon Trust has awarded £390,000 to Tidal Energy Limited (TEL) to fund environmental work at its Ramsey Sound demonstration site in Wales. The grant was issued under the CT’s entrepreneur’s fast track programme. TEL said it pledged to make environmental assessment data available to the wider marine energy industry and it hopes the work will help the Welsh sector to grow.TEL development director Chris Williams said: “The Welsh Government believes that the deployment of tidal and wave devices off the nation’s 1200km coastline could provide as much as 4GW of clean, predictable electricity by as early as 2025. This represents a huge opportunity but in order to achieve this goal, we must understand more about how devices interact with the marine environment
CCW release report on natural heritage evidence to support planning for marine renewable energy
The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) is committed to working with regulators and developers to support the development of marine renewable energy in locations, and using technologies, that avoid significant adverse environmental impacts. This report summarises work CCW has undertaken to produce and share key synthesised evidence relating to Welsh natural heritage interests, in the form of GIS-based data layers, to be taken into account by strategic planning process for marine energy devices (wave and tidal stream). To down load the report click here.