Five wave and tidal energy developers have signed Agreements for Lease with The Crown Estate to take forward the development of their wave and tidal energy installations, which will have 1.2GW of installed capacity by 2020, 600MW for wave and tidal respectively, enough power to meet the needs of up to three-quarters of a million homes.
The Crown Estate, who own the UK seabed out to the 12 nautical mile territorial limit and over 55% of the foreshore, has been working closely with its partners, the Scottish Government, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Orkney Islands Council and the Highland Council, to maximise the benefits to the local area and the rest of Scotland from investments such as the offshore renewable energy programme.
The developers who have signed a total of ten Agreements for Lease are:
Wave:
• SSE Renewables Developments Ltd, 200MW for Costa Head site
• Aquamarine Power Ltd & SSE Renewables Developments Ltd, 200MW for Brough Head site
• Scottish Power Renewables UK Ltd, 50MW for Marwick Head site
• E.ON, 50MW for West Orkney South site
• E.ON, 50MW for West Orkney Middle South site
• Pelamis Wave Power Ltd, 50MW for Armadale site
Tidal:
• SSE Renewables Developments (UK) Ltd, 200MW for Westray South site
• SSE Renewables Holdings (UK) Ltd & OpenHydro Site Development Ltd, 200MW for Cantick Head site
• Marine Current Turbines Ltd, 100MW for Brough Ness site
• Scottish Power Renewables UK Ltd, 100MW for Ness of Duncansby site
The First Minister, Alex Salmond, MSP, MP said: “Today marks a major milestone in the global journey towards a low carbon future, with the commercial-scale deployment of marine renewables set to power our economies and help safeguard the planet for generations to come. These waters have been described as the Saudi Arabia of marine power and the wave and tidal projects unveiled today – exceeding the initial 700MW target capacity – underline the rich natural resources of the waters off Scotland”. The level of competition for sites within the leasing round area, with bids from 20 companies for 42 sites, highlights the appetite for companies to invest in Scottish waters. “It is encouraging to see the number of successful bidders for the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. There is no doubt we are set to see a significant expansion in the commercial development of wave and tidal energy in the near future and the UK government will continue to put a low-carbon and energy-secure future at the heart of its priorities,” said Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy.
Pelamis wave energy converter
Pelamis Wave Power Ltd (PWP), the Edinburgh based developers of the Pelamis wave energy converter, have been named as the technology supplier for three of the major offshore wave energy projects in the world's first seabed leasing round. The three Pelamis projects are the 50MW project with E.ON UK, off the west coast of the Orkney Islands, and the 50MW offshore wave project with Scottish Power Renewables, also off the west coast of the Orkney Islands, and the 50MW project off the north coast of Sutherland being developed by PWP themselves.
Commenting on the three projects, with a cumulative capacity of 150MW, Chief Executive Officer of PWP, Neels Kriek, said: "The Crown Estate's process has set our industry on course towards delivering marine projects of utility scale, and PWP is delighted that both Scottish Power Renewables and E.ON UK endorsed our technology in their applications. We are proudly and uniquely aligned in our respective goals of delivering renewable energy through multiple commercial Pelamis projects in the next 5 to 10 years."
Harnessing tidal power
Marine Current Turbines Ltd has also secured approval to deploy its award-winning SeaGen tidal current technology off Brough Ness, on the southern most tip of the Orkney Islands (South Ronaldsay) and north east of John O’Groats. The company plans to have its first phase of SeaGen tidal turbines deployed during 2017 with the whole scheme operational by 2020.
Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “The Pentland Firth and Orkney waters are strategically the most important marine energy areas in Western Europe so we are delighted to have secured approval for a lease by The Crown Estate”.
Subject to financing and final agreements with The Crown Estate, Marine Current Turbines is aiming to secure planning and environment consents for Brough Ness by 2015, to start construction in 2016 and the first phase of deployment in 2017.
As with its SeaGen project in Northern Ireland, where local companies played a prominent part in delivering the scheme, Marine Current Turbines will look to companies in the Orkneys and Caithness & Sutherland to support its Brough Ness tidal project. “We recognise that the local supply chain could provide us with valuable expertise, not least in marine and port services, and in engineering and fabrication. We are very keen to work with local companies and the local agencies so that they can share in this exciting opportunity,” stressed Wright.
200MW Oyster wave energy converter
Aquamarine Power and SSE Renewables have also secured exclusive rights to develop the 200MW Brough Head wave farm off the coast of Orkney.
The agreement for lease gives them exclusive rights to develop the area for the proposed deployment of the first commercial farm of Aquamarine Power’s Oyster hydro-electric wave power devices in 2013. The proposed wave farm would have an installed capacity of 200MW and could provide enough energy to power around 190,000 homes.
“Harnessing the power of the sea to produce clean energy will play a crucial role in our future energy security and in meeting the UK’s climate change objectives. Deploying Oyster on a commercial scale has the potential to generate millions of pounds for the Scottish and UK economy and to create hundreds of jobs on a local and national level,” commented Martin McAdam, Chief Executive Officer of Aquamarine Power.
ScottishPower Renewables in on the act
The Crown Estate has also awarded ScottishPower Renewables two major marine power development areas in the Pentland Firth as part of the first round of site allocations that aims to fully explore Scotland’s world-leading wave and tidal power resources. The company will develop a 95MW tidal power project at Ness of Duncansby and a 50MW wave power project at Marwick Head.
ScottishPower Renewables will be the sole developer at each site, and will be using industry leading technology for both projects. The tidal site at Ness of Duncansby will consist of up to ninety-five HS1000 tidal turbines, developed by Hammerfest Strøm. A prototype Hammerfest Strøm device has been generating electricity in Norway for the last 5 years, and the company recently announced that a trial of the technology will begin at the EMEC test centre in Orkney during 2011.
As mentioned above, wave power site at Marwick Head will comprise of up to sixty-six Pelamis P2 wave power generators. The Pelamis device is widely recognised as a leader in its field, and has been undergoing trials at a number of locations around the world.
“ScottishPower Renewables is committed to playing a major part in helping Scotland to take a leading role in marine renewables globally,” said Keith Anderson, Director of ScottishPower Renewables. “Marine power will be a key part of our business going forward, building on our considerable onshore and offshore wind portfolio, and we have ambitions to investigate and develop further wave and tidal power projects in the coming years.”
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