Weekly Intelligence Brief
Bi-monthly intelligence brief 7 July – 21 July
21 July 2010
Bi-monthly intelligence brief 6 July – 21 July
Companies and organizations included in this round-up include: The National Renewable Energy Centre, Corus, Atlantis Resources Corporation, European Marine Energy Centre, Crown Estate, Conwy County Council, Capita Symonds, Marine Current Turbines, VT Group, Siemens Energy, the Carbon Trust, The European Ocean Energy Association and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century
Narec to open £15m marine testing facility
The National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) plans to set up a marine energy testing facility to be built in Blyth.
The testing centre, called Project Nautilus, is to be built at the existing dry dock.
Once built, it is expected to be the world’s leading test facility for wave and tidal energy.
The regional government’s intention is to attract manufacturers to test their turbines at the facility and subsequently set up base on the banks of the River Tyne.
Narec has secured the funding to build the testing site from the government and One North East.
The research centre has received additional confirmation from Business Secretary Vince Cable not to cut £18.5m for Narec’s offshore wind test facilities.
Narec recently secured Government backing to build on its current 70-meter turbine blade testing capability with a new 100-meter facility to test the largest of offshore blades.
Andrew Williamson, business development director at Narec, was quoted as saying that nothing at the moment existed to match the planned testing centre.
“I think it’s a significant step because there has yet to be a commercial scale wave industry to match that of wind and this is a big step towards that,” said Williamson.
“Marine renewable is nowhere near offshore wind, it is 15 years behind and yes wave and tidal is still finding its way.
“This makes those opportunities a lot easier to grasp.”
A formal planning application is due within months.
Image: Design of the Nautilus Wave and Tidal Testing Facility, Source: NAREC
Atlantis Resources prototype has positive impact on Scunthorpe steel
Local newspapers in Scunthorpe have been celebrating the £300m scheme to harness tidal energy off the coast of the Orkney Islands.
The initial £300,000 contract for Corus from Atlantis could “turn out to be a drop in the ocean”, said a local report.
The initial order of 467 tonnes of steel, in two non-prime blooms, is being used to build the world's largest tidal turbine for international marine energy company, the Atlantis Resources Corporation.
The blooms, made in the town's continuous casting plant, will form part of the three legs of a prototype turbine which will be tested in the rough waters over the next two years.
The test site, in the Fall of Warness, is said to experience rapid tidal flows and significant wave action.
The local news reports have said that if the tests are successful, the 2,000-acre Scunthorpe site is expected to cash in by producing thousands of tonnes of blooms, plates and sections to build more turbines over a five-year period.
The boost for the town came after Atlantis announced plans to test its ground-breaking technology at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
The deployment of the world's largest rotor diameter tidal turbine – known as the AK-1000TM – is scheduled for later this year and Atlantis has “given a commitment to build a comprehensive local supply chain, with manufacturing, installation, operations and maintenance being conducted in the UK.”
Crown Estate’s property portfolio value to rise thanks to tidal sector
The Crown Estate’s property portfolio rose by 8.6% to £6bn in 2009.
The body, which manages the Crown’s properties and rights, saw its assets’ total capital value rise by 10.4% to £6.6bn (£6bn in 2008/09).
According to a report in Scotland’s The Herald, the value of its marine estate in Scotland soared by 17.2% to £53.8m, although its revenue decreased, the body’s annual report revealed.
However, there are calls growing for MSPs to abolish the Crown’s rights to the seabed around Scotland’s coast, as the multi-billion pound development of offshore wind, wave and tidal projects gathers momentum.
Its value is forecast to continue to rise with the development of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy projects.
According to the report, Tavish Scott, the Liberal Democrats’ Scottish leader, has already called for the Crown Estate’s (CE) marine estate to be devolved and has written to his party colleague Michael Moore, Scottish Secretary, urging him to pursue the matter.
Capita Symonds proposes £150m tidal energy testing facility at Llanddulas
Recommendations to build a £150m tidal energy testing facility at Llanddulas, near Colwyn Bay in North Wales, were put to Conwy County Council by consultants Capita Symonds and were given support in principle.
Colwyn Bay pier and a smaller pier at Rhyl, both with tidal energy-creating capabilities, would be built under the scheme, along with a new marina at Llanddulas.
The purpose of the £150m Tidal Energy Storage And Release (TESAR) scheme would be to provide a test bed facility for turbine designers and manufacturers developing a new generation of ‘low head’ turbines while also assessing their impact on the environment.
The project would act as a leap pad to encourage innovation, inform debate, and enable key decisions to be made about the role of tidal power in providing a low carbon, renewable, secure and predictable source of electricity.
The project, which would take six years to design and build, would be able to harness the power of the tide to generate some 600 megawatts (MWh) of renewable low carbon electricity per annum.
Built using locally sourced materials, it would also act as a catalyst for local sustainable regeneration with initial plans including a 500 berth marina and a new harbour, said Capita Symonds.
Paul Terry, Capita Symonds, said: “Tidal power will play a key role in providing a sustainable energy source for future generations.
“The North Wales coast is an ideal place for such a scheme as it’s blessed with a good tidal range and suitable bathymetry (ocean depth).
“The project could also play a vital role in protecting vulnerable communities from rising sea levels, storm surges and coastal erosion as a result of climate change,” said Terry.
Capita Symonds will now source funding for feasibility studies and investigations to develop a business case for the scheme.
Paul Lester appointed as new MCT chairman
Paul Lester, formerly the Chief Executive of VT Group plc before it was acquired by Babcock International Group plc this month, has been appointed Chairman of UK tidal energy company, Marine Current Turbines Ltd.
He succeeds Tony Davies who has been non-executive chairman of Marine Current Turbines for the past two years.
Lester is joining MCT following the recent investments made by Siemens Energy and the Carbon Trust and as the company moves forward with development projects in UK and Canadian waters.
The company has secured a 99MW development site in waters off the Orkney Islands as part of The Crown Estate Pentland Firth process, is working with RWE npower renewables on a tidal farm off Anglesey and working with a Canadian partner to deploy its SeaGen technology in Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy.
“I’m delighted to be joining Marine Current Turbines at this time,” said Lester.
“The company is one of the leaders in marine energy and has a pipeline of projects for its SeaGen technology to be deployed.
“I will be focusing my energies to ensure that MCT achieves its exciting growth.”
Bristol’s Marine Current Turbines (MCT) designed and deployed the SeaGen tidal energy system, which is the largest grid-connected marine renewable energy system in the world, and the only tidal current energy system that is in commercial operation.
The 1.2MW tidal current turbine, which was deployed in April 2008, is located in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough.
Lester said: “The value of the company rests with its award-winning and patented SeaGen technology but also the company’s expertise in identifying and bringing forward tidal sites for development.
“The company however recognizes that multi-million capital investment, from an international utility or energy engineering firm, is necessary if these large-scale tidal energy projects are to be delivered over the next decade.”
Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said with Lester on board as MCT’s new Chairman and with the support of Siemens, Carbon Trust Investments and our other shareholders, “MCT is in an enviable position.” to capitalize on the
EU-OEA urges European Industrial Initiative for ocean energy
Wave and tidal energy could provide 15% of Europe's energy needs by 2050 if given governmental, industry and financial support, according to a report published by The European Ocean Energy Association (EU-OEA).
The 2050 roadmap report estimated that installed ocean energy could reach 3.6 GW by 2030 and leap to nearly 188 GW by mid-century.
In 2050, a world-leading ocean energy industry in Europe could prevent 136.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year from being emitted into the atmosphere and create 470,000 new green jobs.
While still a burgeoning energy sector, in the EU are wave, tidal current and tidal range, and technologies to harvest them are thus the most advanced, the EU-OEA said.
Developers can access development zones with testing facilities, grid infrastructure and licensing rounds in Ireland, Norway, Denmark, the UK, Portugal, Finland, Spain, France and Italy, it said.
Only a handful of modern commercial projects are generating ocean power today, while numerous others are in development, according to the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21).
It estimated that some 6MW is operational or being tested in European waters, with the UK in the lead. The country has the world's first commercial-scale tidal turbine, which feeds electricity into the grid to satisfy the needs of around 1,000 British homes.
According to the report, tidal and wave energy businesses will have to demonstrate their device’s operational capabilities on a full-scale and install them within the next few years while developing automated manufacturing processes.
It also pointed to the need for electricity network connections to enable large-scale ocean energy power to be delivered to the grid, and stressed the importance of cooperating with other industries, particularly offshore wind, oil and gas.
To speed up the development of ocean energy, the report calls for the development of a European Industrial Initiative for ocean energy under the EU's Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan.
This would help create the critical mass of public-private partnerships needed to commercialise the technologies, it argued.
"A number of large-scale utilities, energy agencies and industrial players […] have already made significant investments in the sector," said Nathalie Rousseau, executive director of EU-OEA.
"The successful growth of the ocean energy industry now depends on swift and targeted policy actions and EU support to overcome a number of known technological and market challenges".
