Equimar

Scottish Scientists leading EU marine research back Pentland Firth Wave and Tidal Leasing Round

The Scottish scientists behind Europe’s largest marine energy research programme, EquiMar have welcomed today’s announcement of the successful bidders in the world’s first commercial wave and tidal leasing round in Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. Professor David Ingram is the Edinburgh based co-coordinator of the European Commission funded EquiMar project, a £4 million Scottish-based programme linking European research centres to examine the potential of marine energy. The project has been given three years by the European Commission to come up with guidelines to match wave and tidal energy devices to locations so marine energy can be developed commercially in time to meet ambitious targets for renewable energy.

The 1.2GW of installed capacity proposed by today’s wave and tidal energy developers is four times the peak output of Dounreay power station. According to the Scottish Government this is enough electricity to meet the needs of up to three quarters of a million homes. Professor Ingram of the Institute for Energy Systems at Edinburgh University said; "This is a very welcome announcement, leasing ten areas of the sea around Orkney and the Pentland Firth for Marine Energy Development. The important thing – if SSE, EON and Scottish Power are to achieve their ambitious targets – is to match the technology to the particular character of each site. Scottish scientists and marine biologists are heavily involved in producing industry guidelines to allow each marine energy generating device to be compared and assessed for its suitability in different sea conditions. The EquiMar project will provide tools that should help the Pentland Firth developers and aid investment decisions. It’s great to finally see the commercial exploitation of Scotland’s marine resource by technologies which started life in Edinburgh and Belfast University laboratories (PWP's Pelamis and Aquamarine's Oyster). "

Cameron Johnstone Director of Strathclyde University's Energy Systems Research Unit and a co-Director of the EquiMar team said; “The announcement’s a welcome move to advance the commercial development of marine renewables in Scotland. I would hope the limited number of awards made today to a relatively small number of parties is just the start of the opening up of seas around Scotland and the process doesn’t stall. Otherwise, it could lead to a monopolisation of technology commercialisation by the successful parties and present a barrier to the next generation of technologies which are rapidly progressing towards commercial deployment.”

Are seals safe with tidal turbines ?

This feature article which is downloadable here appeared in Engineering and Technology magazine -- the most widely read and respected magazine in its field. E&T has established an enviable reputation for the global breadth and quality of its content, published bi-weekly 21 times a year and read by over 150,000 professional engineers and technologists worldwide; working and operating in all disciplines of engineering including communications, control and automation, electronics, IT, management, manufacturing and power.

The aim was to spell out the difficulties of putting a tidal turbine in the water and measuring its impact on marine mammals. The public often wonders why tidal and wave energy isn’t advancing faster – resolving environmental concerns about seals, dolphins, sea birds and fish is clearly going to take time.

Progress for EquiMar Partners

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy visited the Pelamis Wave Power headquarters in Leith (July 16th) to announce an £8 million boost from the UK government for marine energy. The funding will help expand the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, where Pelamis achieved a world first by generating electricity for the national grid. (Pelamis and EMEC are both partners in the Equimar project)

Pelamis is now working on the next generation of its unique wave-power generators for Orkney next year. Mr Murphy said work at Pelamis, on the Forth estuary, will inspire advances in renewable technology. Meanwhile the Scotsman newspaper suggested the lion’s share of the marine development cash should have come to Scotland not Cornwall. See here......

Pelamis announce an order from E.on

Pelamis Wave Power is delighted to announce an order from E.on for one of its next generation machines. The details of this exciting development are available here.

Tide on the rise for wave generation

Andrew Bolger writes in the Financial Times on 2 February 2009;

"Could the credit crunch actually benefit the development of Scottish wave and tidal power?

This intriguing prospect has been raised by Cameron Johnstone, director of Strathclyde University’s energy systems research unit and a member of EquiMar, Europe’s largest ocean energy research programme."

To continue reading this article where Cameron Johnstone delivers his insightrs and analysis; click here.

Equimar website launches to public

Marine Energy has a vast potential to contribute eco-friendly energy but has only 10 years to prove itself as a viable technology, or risk being eclipsed by other energy sources. This is the message from Scottish based scientist, Dr. David Ingram, at the launch of EquiMar, Europe’s largest ocean energy research programme, at the WREC conference in Glasgow.

You can download the full press release here.