UK-wide client services

Taylor Keogh is working with its clients across the UK but to further strengthen its services it has recently entered partnership agreements with PR consultancies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, both of whom have strong track records in the energy sector. In Scotland, Taylor Keogh has forged an alliance with Budge PR (www.budgepr.com) and in Northern Ireland the company is working with Resolute Public Affairs, a consultancy recently established by Terry McErlane (www.resolutepa.com).

Budge PR and Taylor Keogh have worked together with AWS Ocean Energy for the past three years as well as a number of one-off projects for clients.

The partnerships are part of Taylor Keogh’s commitment to provide its clients with the vital experience and skill-set necessary to deliver their objectives. Taylor Keogh is presently recruiting to its London office and will continue to draw upon its network of senior-level associate consultants based across the UK.

Energy from waste on Teesside

Taylor Keogh is supporting Air Product’s plans to build a 49MW energy from waste plant on Teesside. The proposed scheme, which requires approval from Stockton Council and an environmental permitting consent from the Environment Agency, will use advanced gasification technology to convert pre-processed waste to baseload power.

The proposed Tees Valley Renewable Energy Facility was announced this summer and it has been welcomed by a number of local organisations including the North East Process Industries Cluster, the North East Chamber of Commerce, Renew@CPI and Tees Valley Unlimited. Subject to planning approval and financing, the Air Products facility is targeted to enter commercial operation in early 2014.

Taylor Keogh’s work has included stakeholder and community consultation (including public exhibitions), press relations and website/literature development. www.airproducts.co.uk/teesvalley

Harnessing the power of the tides

Marine Current Turbines, a client of Taylor Keogh since 2005, continues to lead the way in developing tidal stream energy on a commercial basis. Ranked as the world’s top tidal energy company in The Guardian/Clean Tech Global 100 Survey (2009), the company is building on the success of its SeaGen project in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough.

In September, it announced an agreement with ESB International to develop an initial phase of a 100MW tidal energy project off the Antrim coast in Northern Ireland, and the company will shortly submit a planning application to deploy a 10MW tidal farm in waters off Anglesey, in partnership with RWE npower renewables. In March 2010, MCT secured approval for a lease from The Crown Estate to deploy its SeaGen technology off Brough Ness, on the southern most tip of the Orkney Islands. The company plans to have its first phase of SeaGen tidal turbines deployed there during 2017 with the whole scheme operational by 2020.

SeaGen was deployed in Strangford Lough in April 2008; it has the capacity to generate power for the equivalent of about 1500 homes. It works in principle much like an “underwater windmill” with the rotors driven by the power of the tidal currents rather than the wind. SeaGen is accredited by OFGEM as a UK power station and so is a recipient of Renewable Obligation Certificates. www.marineturbines.com

Loch Ness trials for wave energy device

Inverness-based wave energy technology, AWS Ocean Energy, has recently completed a series of trials in the waters of Loch Ness for its AWS-III wave energy system. The results are now being evaluated by the company and it is seeking industrial and utility partners to support testing of a single cell wave device in 2011, the launching of a 12-cell pre-commercial demonstrator in 2012 and subsequent commercialisation of its technology. A single utility-scale AWS-III, measuring around 60 metres in diameter, will be capable of generating up to 2.5 MW of continuous power.

Alongside the development of the AWS-III, the company is developing associated, patented technologies such as remote mooring systems and believes there is significant potential for manufacturing key components in Scotland. www.awsocean.com

UK gas storage capacity

As part of a wider consultation on electricity market reform, the Government is consulting on measures to encourage additional gas storage capacity in the UK market. The question will be whether these measures, giving OFGEM additional powers and changes to the gas industry’s Uniform Network Code (and to feature in the upcoming Energy Security & Green Economy Bill), will provide the vital spur to the new investment in storage that is required for a number of projects that have been given consent.

Taylor Keogh has supported the Gateway Gas Storage project in the Irish Sea since 2005: it was the first scheme to receive a Storage Licence from the UK Government earlier this year, after it had secured its main planning and environmental consents in 2008. Front end engineering & design, involving teams from AMEC, Senergy and PB Power, is set to be completed before Christmas and steps to secure additional financing for the project are ongoing.

When built, the £600m plus facility will add new capacity equal to approximately 30% of current UK storage capacity, sufficient to meet five days of Britain’s average gas demand. Gateway will comprise 20 salt caverns, each the size of the Albert Hall, and sited approximately 750m beneath the surface of the seabed. Located 15 miles offshore, south west of Barrow-in-Furness, the storage scheme will be connected to the National Gas Transmission System via a new pipeline to a gas compression station adjacent to the existing Morecambe gas terminals at Barrow. The commencement of storage services is targeted for 2014/15. www.gatewaystorage.co.uk

Infrastructure planning & consultation: using 3D animation

With community consultation a vital component of the planning process for energy projects, Taylor Keogh works with 3D Web Technologies, one of the UK’s leading computer graphics firm. The company designs interactive computer generated models that allow people to see and understand how new infrastructure projects, such as an onshore or offshore wind farm, a gas-fired power station or overhead pylons, will look against the existing landscape. Over the past 18 months, the company has worked with EDF Energy, E.ON and RWE npower.

Photo-montages, from fixed locations, have been used for many years but this interactive technology offers councils and communities a new way of seeing how projects will actually look.

Visual impact is often given as a main reason why a planning application is refused and 3D’s technology is helping to win applications by assuring people about the impact of a proposed project on their local environment. www.3dwebtech.co.uk

Planning regime gearing up for further change

Whilst the Infrastructure Planning Commission is set to continue until possibly as long as April 2012, the planning regime for infrastructure projects is set for further change as the Government seeks to ratify its National Policy Statements (by Spring 2011) and brings forward its Decentralisation & Localism Bill. The Bill will see the abolition of the IPC (to be merged into the Planning Inspectorate), devolution of greater powers to local authorities but with final decisions on major projects resting with the Secretary of State.

Ideally, the Government wants to see the best parts of the 2008 Planning Act (NPSs, statutory timetables and a single consenting regime) to dovetail with the Decentralisation & Localism Bill.

In the autumn of next year, it is conceivable that there will be three different consenting processes running concurrently for major energy projects: (1) applications lodged before the establishment of the IPC still going through the old ‘Section 36’ regime, (2) projects taken forward under the IPC framework: presently 48 out of the 54 projects (of which 80% are energy related) registered with the IPC are still at the pre-application stage and (3) projects that will be processed under the Major Infrastructure Planning Unit regime created by the Decentralisation and Localism Act Bill. This is set to go live in October 2011.

In practice, much of the IPC process and personnel are likely to remain in situ under a new name, with a Secretary of State, rather than an IPC commissioner giving the final seal of approval.

The IPC appears to be working “business as usual”: receiving applications, offering advice to developers and council planners as well as outreach work to local communities. Although the transition period is in their sights, the IPC are hopeful that the first batch of decisions will be made by the middle of next year.

Irrespective of the planning regime that is in place, public consultation is enshrined. Communication has always been a vital part of a successful consents process. Open dialogue with elected representatives and local communities and interest groups has always been necessary but now it is a statutory requirement.

Too often, the myths and fears of a proposed project become the biggest obstacle, and any barrier between the local community and the developer can lead to distrust and disapproval. Similarly, local politicians and officers can be lost straight away if the project is felt to have landed upon them with no warning. A proper introduction, not only to the project but the company as well, can ensure that the merits of any scheme have an increased chance of being heard.

Communication with the local community is vital, no matter how big a development is, as a groundswell against a proposed scheme at local level can be a project killer or at the very least be costly. Genuine dialogue is needed.

Government set to introduce Energy Security Bill

The long-awaited Energy Security & Green Economy Bill is expected to be introduced in the House of Lords in the first week of December. The Bill has been widely trailed, and barring any last minute changes, the bulk of the Bill will surround the ‘Green Deal’, changes in the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and importantly measures to improve the UK’s energy security.

The energy sector is used to the government introducing Energy Bills on a virtually annual basis, but for the Coalition which talks about wanting to be the ‘Greenest Government ever’ the Energy Security & Green Economy Bill will be the first taste of how this important piece of government legislation matches their previous rhetoric.

Since assuming power, the DECC ministerial team has been assiduous in keeping “on message”: on generation, they have been clear in stating their wish to see new nuclear, clean coal and gas, and more renewables (principally offshore wind, though still wishing to have onshore wind and biomass and in the longer-term wave and tidal). Ministers speak of the need to invest more than £200bn over the next decade to transform the country’s energy infrastructure: this will be a challenge given the financial climate, competing priorities for investment, and issues such as regulation and the UK’s planning process.

Looking more closely at the expected content of the Energy Bill, it is aimed at energy companies and suppliers, although the flagship Green Deal policy will require a large public take-up for it not to be considered a failure. The Government is expecting 250,000 new jobs to be created as a result of the Green Deal.

The Green Deal is centred on the premise of increasing the energy efficiency of properties, both domestic and non-domestic, and unlike the Warm Front policy of the previous government, there will be no subsidy for any improvements. Payments for work carried out will be attached to a property’s energy bills, which will then stay with the property, rather than moving with the individual.

It will be the energy company’s responsibility to collect these payments, and works carried out will have to be compliant with government guidelines, the primary one being the improvement will have to have a sufficient payback within the period, ensuring then policy’s “pay as you save” principle.

Another aspect of the Bill will be the creation of the new ‘Energy Company Obligation’, which will replace the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target system that is due to expire in 2012. As a way of ensuring energy efficiency households to fund certain efficiency improvements, the CERT scheme has had some success, but the new obligation is intended to work in unison with the Green Deal, especially towards those on low incomes and the vulnerable.

In addition, there will be new measures aiming at better security for gas and electricity supplies with new powers for OFGEM.

Some important areas of energy policy are not covered in the Bill; these include the Green Investment Bank (expected to take shape in the Spring of 2011), the possible carbon floor price and the changes in renewable subsidies. The future of ROCs is still uncertain as the outcome of the ROCs banding review is awaited (Q2/Q3 2011), as are the levels of support within the Feed-in Tariff.

There are already plans for another Energy Bill for the end of 2011, and it is also expected that details of the carbon floor and future funding levels are to be announced in the next Budget.

Given the importance of the energy sector to the British economy and indeed the country’s national security, coupled with the Government’s environmental and climate change policy objectives, the public policy and political agendas for those working in the sector will be challenging for a good few years.