The Government will shortly publish its review of ROCs banding for renewables and the Energy & Climate Change Select Committee will be turning their attention to marine energy when Parliament returns. Dr Andrew Tyler, who was recently appointed Chief Executive of tidal technology company, Marine Current Turbines, gives his perspective on the main steps that need to be taken to industrialise marine energy in this country.
As a country with one of the largest marine energy resources in the world, the UK has the very real potential to be a global leader in this emerging part of the renewables sector. The DECC roadmap believes that the UK can deliver 300MW by 2020. Currently the UK’s position at the front is a fragile one and the next two to three years will be crucial to secure this advantage. Furthermore, there is a huge potential for export, which carries with it enormous benefits for UK manufacturing.
The future of the industry will need funding of a different magnitude to which it has received thus far if it is to secure the transition from developmental to commercial scale deployment. This will require public funding and the right policy framework to simultaneously attract the very necessary private investment. This must happen within the next three years if the industry is to succeed.
MCT developed and installed the world’s first commercial-scale tidal current turbine, SeaGen, in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough thanks to government grant support in tandem with private investment. Since 2008, the 1.2MW SeaGen has been harnessing the predictable and regular tides to generate electricity into the local grid. As a demonstration plant, MCT has been able to learn from SeaGen’s operation, make improvements and develop the technology to the point where it is now ready to be deployed on a much wider and commercial scale.
Whilst MCT has already completed the development stage and has a tidal product ready for commercial deployment, we are the only company to have reached this next stage. Presently, there are a number of technologies that are entering their development phase and if marine projects are to be deployed on a commercial basis, investors need a clear signal that they will see a return on their investments and 5 ROCs would deliver this.
All new technologies are expensive and require public support initially until they are able to commercialise when economies of scale will mean that they can become profitable without subsidies. All conventional forms of energy generation relied on government support during their developmental stages; indeed the nuclear industry still requires this support. For marine, there is solid evidence to confirm that costs will become competitive once a few large scale projects have been successfully rolled out.
MCT has plans to roll out two commercial scale tidal arrays in UK waters over the coming years, provided we see the right level of investment. We believe that the initial ROC costs will remain relatively very small in the context of the UK renewable energy market but that the ROC benefits will ultimately be very high if they can kick off a major new industry – one that enables marine to deliver a meaningful and low-carbon part of the UK’s energy mix, generate new jobs and export opportunities for British firms.
Marine Current Turbines (www.marineturbines.com) is based in Bristol. Its main shareholders include Carbon Trust Investments, EDF Energy, ESB International and Siemens Energy. MCT is developing, in partnership with RWE npower renewables, the 10MW Skerries tidal project off Anglesey, an 8MW tidal farm in Kyle Rhea (Scotland’s Isle of Skye) and is working with Minas Basin Pulp & Power to deploy a single SeaGen tidal system in Canada’s Bay of Fundy. In addition, MCT has an approval for a lease from The Crown Estate to deploy a 100MW tidal farm off the Orkney Islands.
For further information, please contact Andrew Tyler via andrew.tyler@marineturbines.com or Taylor Keogh.
As a country with one of the largest marine energy resources in the world, the UK has the very real potential to be a global leader in this emerging part of the renewables sector. The DECC roadmap believes that the UK can deliver 300MW by 2020. Currently the UK’s position at the front is a fragile one and the next two to three years will be crucial to secure this advantage. Furthermore, there is a huge potential for export, which carries with it enormous benefits for UK manufacturing.
The future of the industry will need funding of a different magnitude to which it has received thus far if it is to secure the transition from developmental to commercial scale deployment. This will require public funding and the right policy framework to simultaneously attract the very necessary private investment. This must happen within the next three years if the industry is to succeed.
MCT developed and installed the world’s first commercial-scale tidal current turbine, SeaGen, in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough thanks to government grant support in tandem with private investment. Since 2008, the 1.2MW SeaGen has been harnessing the predictable and regular tides to generate electricity into the local grid. As a demonstration plant, MCT has been able to learn from SeaGen’s operation, make improvements and develop the technology to the point where it is now ready to be deployed on a much wider and commercial scale.
Whilst MCT has already completed the development stage and has a tidal product ready for commercial deployment, we are the only company to have reached this next stage. Presently, there are a number of technologies that are entering their development phase and if marine projects are to be deployed on a commercial basis, investors need a clear signal that they will see a return on their investments and 5 ROCs would deliver this.
All new technologies are expensive and require public support initially until they are able to commercialise when economies of scale will mean that they can become profitable without subsidies. All conventional forms of energy generation relied on government support during their developmental stages; indeed the nuclear industry still requires this support. For marine, there is solid evidence to confirm that costs will become competitive once a few large scale projects have been successfully rolled out.
MCT has plans to roll out two commercial scale tidal arrays in UK waters over the coming years, provided we see the right level of investment. We believe that the initial ROC costs will remain relatively very small in the context of the UK renewable energy market but that the ROC benefits will ultimately be very high if they can kick off a major new industry – one that enables marine to deliver a meaningful and low-carbon part of the UK’s energy mix, generate new jobs and export opportunities for British firms.
Marine Current Turbines (www.marineturbines.com) is based in Bristol. Its main shareholders include Carbon Trust Investments, EDF Energy, ESB International and Siemens Energy. MCT is developing, in partnership with RWE npower renewables, the 10MW Skerries tidal project off Anglesey, an 8MW tidal farm in Kyle Rhea (Scotland’s Isle of Skye) and is working with Minas Basin Pulp & Power to deploy a single SeaGen tidal system in Canada’s Bay of Fundy. In addition, MCT has an approval for a lease from The Crown Estate to deploy a 100MW tidal farm off the Orkney Islands.
For further information, please contact Andrew Tyler via andrew.tyler@marineturbines.com or Taylor Keogh.
