Wind Energy
South West economy as well as secure low car- bon energy.
The geographic scope of the South West
MEP extends from Bristol to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, with a focus around the ports, re- search facilities and industrial clusters found in Cornwall, Plymouth and Bristol. At the heart of the South West MEP is the access to the signif- icant tidal, wave and offshore wind resources of the South West coast and the Bristol Channel. In addition, Cornwall is close to two of the
UK’s most promising potential future off-shore wind farm sites, including the proposed ‘Atlantic Array’ to be located in the Bristol Channel and the Navitas Wind Farm off the south coast of Dorset. These provide significant supply chain opportunities from operations and maintenance to deep water foundation technol- ogy, supply of blade tooling and materials. A Cornish company, Fugro Seacore, have won the contract to lay the foundations for the Isle of Wight development – the largest in the UK – and are currently completing the survey work before commencement of the project. Falmouth provides an extensive deep water port supported by a cluster of marine operations companies and is superbly placed to deploy wave and floating wind technology off the South West peninsula.
In November 2011, the
Falmouth Bay test site (FaBTest) received a lease award from the Crown Estate and in March 2012, Fred Olsen Ltd’s ‘Lifesaver’ wave
marine energy devices. This £30 million facil- ity provides shared offshore infrastructure for the demonstration and proving of arrays of wave energy generation devices over a sustained period of time.
Located 16 km off the north Cornish coast in one of Europe’s best wave climates, Wave Hub provides an electrical hub on the seabed to which arrays of wave energy devices can be connected. Based in Hayle, the Wave Hub team has been working with the universities of Ply- mouth and Exeter since 2005 to collect infor- mation on the site’s wave energy resources and to create a baseline for environmental monitor- ing and impact assessment.
02.
energy converter was deployed. More installa- tions are planned in the near future. Cornwall Council is in the process of deliv- ering a £15 million infrastructure package to access the proposed Marine Renewables Busi- ness Park (MRBP) on North Quay at Hayle Harbour. Cornwall Council has also secured ad- ditional European funding to support capital in- vestment in marine renewable energy in Cornwall including the Hayle MRBP. Cornwall is directly connected to a 400kV national grid with spare capacity for the wave and tidal energy sector. With this world-class in- frastructure in place, companies generating wave, tidal and wind energy can sell it back to national energy providers quickly and cost effectively utilising the low transmission charges that are in place. Wave Hub is the largest and most techno- logically advanced, fully consented, grid-con- nected site for the testing and development of
The peninsula of Cornwall, South West England juts into the Atlantic and faces the pre- vailing westerly oceanic swell. These long swells pack an enormous amount of energy – with a typical average range of 15-25 kw/m (kilowatts per metre of wave face) in the area around Wave Hub off the north Cornish coast, increasing to 35-40 kw/m in the area around the Isles of Scilly. While the waves are powerful, South West England benefits from less extreme storm conditions that would challenge the “sur- vivability” of the devices. This is especially im- portant in the early stages of their development. Looking further ahead, there is significant potential for the expansion of offshore wind in the South West. The development of floating wind technology could provide a cost effective alternative to fixed foundations and would allow the deployment of wind turbines in the deeper waters to the west of the Atlantic Array Site and off the Lizard Peninsula. The Wave Hub team is currently working with the UK’s Energy Tech- nologies Institute to investigate the feasibility of hosting a proposed £25 million floating wind demonstrator project.
In addition to the rich natural resources
of our coastline, Cornwall has access to an unparalleled range of R&D support, and to significant EU funding opportunities.
To find out more information, please contact the inward
investment team at Cornwall Development Company on: Email:
info@investincornwall.co.uk Telephone: (01872) 322800
01. New European Economy 03. 55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124