Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

RenewableUK cautious over Government’s mixed funding signals

RenewableUK, the UK’s largest renewable energy trade association, has welcomed the Government’s commitment to boost financial support for wave and tidal projects. However, RenewableUK is urging caution over the Government’s plans to downgrade the level of financial support it provides for onshore wind from 2013 onwards, and offshore wind from 2015.

RenewableUK’s key considerations in response to the latest Government plans are:

- RenewableUK welcome the boost in financial support for wave and tidal energy projects
- The Renewables industry is already working with government to ensure cost reductions
- Cuts in support for wind industry will have impact on deployment

South West England Pushes Wave Energy

Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, named the South West as the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area at the launch of the Government’s Low Carbon Industrial Strategy in London earlier this week. The news comes despite the South West having the poorest record of renewable energy delivery against targets.

Stephen Peacock, Director at the South West Regional Development Agency said: “This is about a new industry and new jobs, and the South West’s critical role in building a greener global economy. Being identified as the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area is a tremendous accolade and recognition of our commitment to develop this unprecedented economic opportunity. We want to forge a new industry from the seas around our shores and today’s announcements cement our position as a global leader in wave and tidal technologies”.

The South West Regional Development Agency’s (RDA) renewable baby is The Wave Hub. The South West RDA wants the hub to be the UK’s first offshore facility with the ability to demonstrate the operation of wave energy generation devices.

Wave Energy Technology

Wave energy technology is an immature but promising renewable energy technology. This video gives a clear explanation as to how some wave energy devices work. Pelamis and Anaconda are two wave energy devices that work using the same principles.

Pelamis was the world’s first commercial scale machine to produce offshore, grid connected, wave generated electricity. A new commercial wave energy machine is now being built for utility giant E.on in Scotland.

Anaconda is a 200 metre rubber tube with a hydraulic turbine driving a 1MW capacity electric generator. Anaconda’s developer – Checkmate Seaenergy say the wave energy device has the potential to generate renewable electricity off any coast with wave strength over 25 kW/m. Checkmate Seaenergy has a vision of the snakes being grouped in farms with 20 or more machines producing over 20 MW.

Dragon’s Den for Marine Energy

Marine renewable energy technologies are young but show much promise for the future. Although unlikely to be as commercially successful as wind energy in the short term, the profile of wave and tidal energy is likely to be much greater over the next few years.

The Carbon Trust told us several years ago that 20% of UK’s current electricity demands could be met by wave and tidal energy. The Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition says 252 million megawatt hours a year could be generated off the coast of the US and the World Energy Council has said 1 million gigawatt hours of wave energy hits Australian shores annually.

Wave Energy is Born

As OPEC proclaimed yesterday that low oil prices are unlikely to last long, Scottish wave energy company Aquamarine Power announced what they dubbed “the birth” of the wave industry.

The announcement followed the successful production and export of renewable electricity from its wave energy converter ‘Oyster‘ to the grid.

Salazar Holds First Offshore Energy Public Meeting

Secretary Salazar believes that US offshore wind energy resources could lead America’s Clean Energy Revolution. Today he held the first of a series of public meetings to consult on a new offshore energy plan.

At a previous meeting with 25x’25 America’s Energy Future – a group seeking to reduce America’s carbon emissions – he said “More than three-fourths of the nation’s electricity demand comes from coastal states and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states actually exceeds our entire US electricity demand“.