The Crown Estate, manager of the UK seabed, has announced that it has agreed seabed rights for six new wave and tidal current demonstration zones, which for the first time will enable locally-based organisations to manage and sub-let parts of the seabed to a range of wave and tidal stream developers.
The Crown Estate has also agreed five new wave and tidal current sites, each with the potential to deliver a project of between 10 and 30 MW.
Rob Hastings, Director of Energy and Infrastructure said:
“By providing these additional seabed rights we are pleased to be enabling further technology development and commercialisation, which will be critical if the UK is to unlock its significant natural resources for wave and tidal current energy.
“This innovative approach to leasing the seabed sees us responding to market demand and introducing managed demonstration zones to give other organisations the opportunity to lend tangible support in their local areas.”
Greg Barker, Minister for Energy and Climate Change said that wave and tidal stream are growing green, clean energy sources with the potential to sustain thousands of jobs in a sector worth, from
The locations for the demonstration zones and project sites include three off the coast of England, four off the coast of Scotland, one in Northern Ireland and three off the coast of Wales.
|
Organisation |
Location |
Zone type / project name |
|
Wave Hub |
North Cornwall North Devon South Pembrokeshire |
Wave demonstration zone Tidal stream demonstration zone Wave demonstration zone |
|
Siemens MCT |
Dorset Northern Ireland Scotland |
Portland Bill, tidal stream project site Strangford Lough, tidal stream project site Mull of Galloway, tidal stream project site |
|
EMEC |
Scotland Scotland Scotland |
Isle of Harris, wave demonstration zone Islay, tidal stream demonstration zone Stronsay Firth, tidal stream managed test facility project |
|
Menter Môn |
Wales |
West Anglesey, tidal stream demonstration zone |
|
Minesto |
Wales |
Holyhead Deep, tidal stream project site |
The Crown Estate launched the wave and tidal current leasing process in October 2013 and the new demonstration zones are in areas specially chosen by The Crown Estate for their suitability for test and demonstration activities.
With the leasing process now complete, the next stage is for the demonstration zone managers to start to attract developers for the zones and to undertake further work, such as gathering environmental data that can help developers with the consenting process.
The Crown Estate said it will now consider how best to optimise future leasing processes as required to meet market demand.
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