Article: Interview with Duncan Mackay, wave and tidal development manager, The Crown Estate
Tidal Energy Special
The Crown Estate has taken initiatives to assess the nature of the likely energy changes, and the possible impact on marine habitats and species considering that marine renewable energy devices are designed to extract energy from waves or tidal streams.
One of the initiatives included the publication of The Crown Estate’s feasibility study into the construction of a sub-sea interconnector that would support the development of offshore renewable energy in Scotland.
In addition, The Crown Estate has played a key role in the development of the Pentland Firth project, which aims to deliver over 1,000 MW of wave and tidal energy by 2020.
For The Crown Estate, when it comes to shaping up the future with such big and critical projects, it is considered to be in a unique position as it has the privilege of dealing with a wide variety of marine users.
“The Crown Estate can influence development activity and provide advice to developers on areas of sensitivity but our role is essentially a balance between stewardship, commercialism and acting with integrity. Provided that the industry continues to tackle its issues professionally and sensitively, The Crown Estate believes the tidal sector will have a bright and exciting future,” says Duncan Mackay, wave and tidal development manager, The Crown Estate.
Mackay, who is scheduled to speak during the 2nd Annual Tidal Energy Summit 2008, to be held in London on 11-12 November this year, shared that The Crown Estate is currently involved in a few key project areas as the organisation can often act in a way that individual developers may find difficult to do on their own.
“If the feasibility study prepared by consultants Econnect on behalf of The Crown Estate for a new sub-sea cable network to reinforce the existing national grid system is adopted by the industry, it will potentially be of significant benefit to the whole marine renewables sector. This affects our interests and since we have good relations with a number of key organisations and people, we are able to intervene and try to make a difference where others may struggle. The Crown Estate has recently recruited a number of key project staff in order that such projects remain delivery focussed. We are now well placed to help overcome future challenges of this sort and tackle other projects that come along. We will also continue to work with, and listen to, key organisations and individuals in order to promote the solutions required to the unique problems we face within the tidal sector,” he said.
On the status of the tidal energy sector, Mackay says if the various stakeholders can manage the development of the industry in a sensitive way so as to minimise the impacts on other marine users and the environment then “the industry will have an exceptionally bright future.”
Mackay also spoke about the role of the legislation, protecting both the marine ecosystem and human health and other issues. Excerpts from an interview:
tidaltoday.com: The primary objectives of the legislation are to protect both the marine ecosystem and human health, and to minimise nuisance and interference to other legitimate uses of the sea. What according to you should be the major considerations when it comes to issuing a licence to interested companies in this sector?
Duncan Mackay: We cannot have development of the seas at any cost as this would pit one user against the next. There are other marine users out there that have an equal right to the use of the sea and a great many of them have been there for a very long time.
When it comes to the issuing of seabed leases, I believe that interested companies need to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to minimise the impact to other sea users, the ecology and the environment. These issues need to be handled sensitively if the industry is to obtain a good reputation and I look to see that prospective lease holders have a professional approach in this area.
On the technical side, it is important that development companies do not underestimate the difficulties associated with deploying in a harsh environment. Having a track record of successful testing and deployment, which can be verified by independent organisations such as EMEC, NaREC and Wave Hub, helps to inspire confidence that the devices manufacturers know what they are doing. Given the magnitude of the technical obstacles to be overcome in the tidal sector, it is easy to understand the amount of effort that an organisation will place on technical issues. However, without a sound business case, an organisation can soon go out of business so we also look to ensure that there is a sound financial footing behind any proposal. Lastly, we need to ensure that test devices do not impede any future commercial scale development that may follow. So we look very carefully at site selection issues.
tidaltoday.com: It is acknowledged that significant steps need to be taken to secure operations supply chains, develop durable devices, and gain consent and regulatory permits. How do you assess the role of regulatory body and other state-run stakeholders in shaping up this sector as this stage?
Duncan Mackay: I am delighted at the efforts taken so far to encourage the industry to Scotland. Once the benefits of these efforts can be seen by others, then I am sure they will be adopted elsewhere. There are other countries trying hard to attract the industry elsewhere but it is important that we make it as easy as possible for companies to do their business here. I think we will need to wait and see if the measures that have already been put in place are enough to keep the core of the industry in this country.
tidaltoday.com: How do you see the role of accredited and independent testing and verification house EMEC, where more devices are expected to be tested over the next couple of years, many of which were awarded support under the Scottish Government's Wave and Tidal Energy Scheme?
Duncan Mackay: We are so lucky to have the industries best test centre in the world located in this country. Think where we would be today if we did not have such a facility.
EMEC is an essential building block in establishing a competitive industry in this country. The importance of EMEC is reflected in the fact that other countries that wish to attract the industry abroad also wish to build EMEC type facilities in order to capitalise on the benefits such a facility brings to an industry in its infancy. We have also been particularly impressed by the draft standards that have been developed by EMEC. A lot of effort has gone into them and it is surely only a matter of time before these are accepted as international standards for the industry as a whole. That places EMEC in a very unique and enviable position and will surely go a long way to attracting even more developers their way. Long may this continue and let us hope that NaREC and Wave Hub, too, can expand on this lead.
2nd Annual Tidal Energy Summit 2008
The Crown Estate’s Duncan Mackay is scheduled to speak during the 2nd Annual Tidal Energy Summit 2008, to be held in London on 11-12 November this year.
For more information, click here: http://www.tidaltoday.com/tidal08/programme1.shtml
Or contact Abbie Badcock by email abbie@tidaltoday.com/ +44-207-375-7581
