Wales Marine Energy Forum

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23 posts

[walesmarine]

SI Ocean - beth?

I'm guessing that most of you have never heard of SI Ocean. Luckily we at Wales Marine have been up since the crack of dawn, scouring beaches for clues, and we've stumbled upon something quite interesting.

SI Ocean is a 2-year, European-funded project which aims to identify "practical solutions to removing a range of barriers to large-scale wave and tidal energy deployment". So far, so laudible.

The latest output from the project, which names amongst its partners such luminaries as RenewableUK, Ocean Energy Europe, and the Carbon Trust, is a weighty publication entitled "Wave and Tidal Energy Strategic Technology Agenda". It aims to do what it says on the tin, i.e. 'highlight strategic actions aimed at commercialisation' of the marine renewable technologies.

Some of the headline recommendations include:

Establish and reinforce programmes for development of novel technology and towards Technology Readiness Level (TRL) progression, with a strong emphasis on sub-systems

Validation of performance and reliability of devices, reaching capacity factors of >25% and availability of >75%

Standards and guidelines for evaluation and testing of devices

European cooperation for overarching issues

Demonstration facilities (England and Scotland have them - not so for us in Wales!)

Standardised procedures for installation and maintenance

The document weighs in at 42 pages, so there's clearly a lot of detail there beyond the headlines. You can check it out here.

[walesmarine]

A Severn Barrage: good news for bad surfers, bad news for good surfers

We at Wales Marine have fallen prey to the temptation to use a tabloid headline to describe serious scientific research. The news is, of course, more nuanced than the headline suggests.

The boffins @LCRIMarine have published an article (paywall but see below) with the title "The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel", and they calculate that changes due to a large barrage would be - on average - no more than 5% of the 'natural' case. It's important to note that whilst waves on incoming tides would be slightly smaller, waves on outgoing tides would be slightly bigger, so in principle it would extend the daily surf 'season' (although it would also diminish the number of very large days which would presumably annoy the better surfers out there).

In other words, a barrage is bad news for the good surfers, and good news for the bad ones.

Sorry Swansea

That's not *quite* all there is to it. It turns out that there are winners and losers at particular sites.

The modeling demonstrates that these guys benefit from increased wave height:

North Somerset (+20%)

South Gower Coast

Vale of Glamorgan

The losers include:

Swansea to Porthcawl coastline (biggest decrease)

Llangennith (marginal decrease)

Scarweather Sands (marginal decrease)

Maybe it means that the Welsh coastline will be have to be divided into zones for beginners and advanced. 

Get the detail

There's too much detail in the document for us to do justice here, and before you get too concerned, I suggest that you read the document yourself. You can obtain a copy of the research by getting in touch with the researchers. 

What about flooding?

Natural Resources Wales and residents will be pleased to hear that a barrage and localised increases in wave height don't automatically mean a greater risk of flooding. That's because the increases in wave height are *not* coincident with high water. Good news for barrage advocates!

[walesmarine]

Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project - public have their say

It's the opportunity that tens of thousands of people have been waiting for (maybe) - the chance to comment on the marine license application as submitted by SBTL.

Natural Resources Wales has a news article here which 'launches' the opportunity, and lists five public viewing sites, including Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and Oystermouth.

[walesmarine]

Celtic Seas Partnership wants your opinion

What is the Celtic Seas Partnership (CSP)?

It's a partnership organisation to support collaborative and innovative approaches to marine management

How are they funded?

Part by the EU 'Life+' project, and the rest by WWF, NERC, SeaWeb, University of Liverpool and the Dublin Regional Authority.

What have they been up to?

Plenty of things - but most recently they've published a report on a workshop held in October in Liverpool, the outcome of which was a set of draft measures which can address the Marine Strategy Framework Directive descriptors. 

What do they want from me?

Whether or not you were lucky enough not to be at the Liverpool event, they'd like your opinion on the ideas which were suggested to measure 'Good Environmental Status' in the Celtic Seas. The questionnaire is here.

Is it really worth contributing?

You betcha. 

[walesmarine]

MEP annual seminar - 13th March

If you're interested you'd better get booking. There's only 12 free tickets remaining! Click here for more details.

[walesmarine]

Nice profile of Martin Murphy and Tidal Energy Ltd. Mentions of Welsh Government, LCRI and others. 

[walesmarine]

Hafren power loses top brass

Blimey! It seems that heads have rolled (or rather that people have walked) from Hafren Power, leaving the barrage project without some key individuals. 

Wales Online reports in detail about the losses, which presumably are a further (final?) nail in the coffin of the project this time around (though the idea will presumably resurface in another 5-10 years).

[walesmarine]

Low Carbon Innovation Coordination Group

In case you weren't aware of this (we weren't!) - marine energy is one of the focus areas of this UK level coordinated public sector group. There's more information here, and you can download the 'Technology Innovation Needs Assessment' for the marine sector here.

[walesmarine]

Tidal range leases - consultation

The Crown Estate is up to its old tricks, beavering away and trying to support the marine energy sector any way it can. 

The latest contribution is their ears - they want to hear from you on their ideas for leasing out sites for tidal range development. We've posted the links on the LinkedIn group, but let us know if you can't access (perhaps you work in a public sector body that restricts that kind of helpful site) and we'll email it across or post here.

[walesmarine]

Agenda for the next WMEF Meeting

The next WMEF meeting will be held at 11am on the 10th January at the RenewableUK Cymru offices. A draft agenda is available here; we welcome your contributions to the agenda. If you're interested in attending, please contact us via email, twitter or via the LinkedIn Group.

[walesmarine]

Marine stakeholders in (and around) Wales

Here's our first draft of the marine stakeholders in and around Wales. What do you think?

[walesmarine]

WEFO funding bid

We're thinking about putting a funding bid in to WEFO for carrying out activities supporting the sector in Wales. We'd also look to get some private sector funding and support to match.

We're putting together a draft plan of what might work - but we would very much value your input! We'll be publishing something soon, and would appreciate your comments. It'll also be an agenda item at the January meeting.

[walesmarine]

Tender opportunities in Normandy

Full details about the tender opportunities for tidal energy in Normandy are available on the LinkedIn group.

[walesmarine]

Consultation event on DECC (balance of competences), 9th January, Cardiff

Please find the links etc in the YnniCymru group on LinkedIn - there's some good feedback on this series of workshops from previous attendees. 

[walesmarine]

Pelamis presentation on wave power in the UK

This is worth a look - kudos to Pelamis for making a useful little primer on wave energy in the UK (see if you can see where they missed out Welsh Government from their list of supporters though!)

http://sco.lt/6IRNFR

[walesmarine]

Celtic Seas Partnership information

As good as his word in the last WMEF meeting, Dan Crook has helpfully provided information on the Celtic Seas Partnership.

Here's a general project briefing

This is a link to a more detailed description of activities (the 'briefing booklet')

Here is the 'benefits to industry' information

Thanks Dan!

[walesmarine]