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Marine Renewable Energy

Conference Review 2004

Thursday 12th February 2004

The impressive IMAX Theatre in Bristol was yesterday the venue for the UK's largest dedicated wave and tidal energy conference. The hugely successful event, with nearly 250 delegates, was hosted jointly by both the BWEA and REGEN-SW, the renewable energy development agency for the South West of England.

It signified the commitment of the BWEA to support the development of this emerging sector and provided a platform for the South West to promote their vision for a marine industry in the region.

BWEA Chief Executive Marcus Rand opened by highlighting the 'phase of proof' that marine technologies were now entering, emphasising the potential for learning from the fast growing UK offshore wind sector. The impressive line up of speakers, that included the Energy Minister Stephen Timms MP and Carbon Trust Chief Executive Tom Delay, then proceeded to outline the challenges facing all technologies within this phase and the measures that are being and could be taken to overcome them.

Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace, initially set the foundations in climate change issues and the necessity of carbon reductions, stating the need for a 90% reduction target by the end of the century and emphasising the importance of renewables within this. His message was bound in the significance of these issues for the entire global population and the urgency with which we must seriously address the challenges on the path towards a more sustainable energy system.

Stephen Timms then highlighted the level of importance renewables hold in the outlook of the DTI, stating that Government is 'strongly committed to developing renewable energy sources' and, in relation to marine energy, emphasising their determination to ensure that progress in the UK to date is maintained. With a brief insight into the forthcoming Renewables Innovation Review, that has been informing the DTI's bid for further funding in the next Government Spending Round SR04, he commented that 'its conclusions about wave and tidal technologies are generally positive'.

His speech also carried recognition of the issues within SEA's for the offshore marine industry and the need for commitment to the sector, all strong signals that the wave and tidal industry is at last being taken seriously by Government after a turbulent relationship over the past 20 years.

Developers were represented in the first session by the enthusiasm of Max Carcas from Ocean Power Delivery. At a critical time for OPD, with their full-scale Pelamis device about to be deployed, Max highlighted the need for either capital grants or feed-in-tarriffs in order to create a more confident and accommodating market for emerging technologies, and stated his belief in the strength of combining the two mechanisms under the RO in order to pull technological innovation into a more competitive position.

This was further enhanced by Frank Numann of the Portuguese National Institute for Engineering, Technology and Innovation, who commented on Portugal's system of capital grants and guaranteed feed-in-tariffs that will be used to help achieve a wave energy target of 50MW by 2010. In outlining this market support for wave technologies Mr Numann only heightened the need for urgency in political action in the UK if technologies developed here are to be retained here and not lost, together with the potential economic benefits, to more accommodating markets overseas.

Andrew Garrad of Garrad Hassan reemphasised this point in a talk full of enthusiasm in the belief that this emerging industry must learn from the experience of the wind industry and not repeat the mistakes that have previously lead to a promising major industry being developed abroad. His model stressed the need for logical progression and learning as opposed to the development of devices built for show, reiterating the Danish wind industry example.

Lessons from the oil and gas industry were also expressed by John Evans, Chief Operating Officer of Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) in a longer evolutionary time frame that highlighted the need for continual learning processes. His speech highlighted the embryonic stage of the marine energy sector in comparison to development of oil and gas but must have set many minds ticking over what could be achieved through progressive innovative practices.

A regional innovation system within a national framework of support for the wave sector was the vision of Matthew Spencer of REGEN South West. He unveiled their 'wave hub' idea that is intended to aid the final pre-commercial stage of development by providing a testing facility for devices in arrays. In outlining the potential within the South West for generating substantial amounts of energy from wave and tidal stream, and highlighting the skills and facilities base there, Mr Spencer emphasised the ambition of the Region to take a leading position in marine renewable energy.

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, officially launched their Marine Energy Challenge. This is a major new development for marine energy in the UK, set up to assess the potential for marine energy devices to achieve a competitive cost of electricity generation. Mr Delay outlined the developers that the Carbon Trust will be working with and the objectives of the Challenge. He stated that "our technological and commercial capabilities combined with our independence and flexibility means we can really help drive the industry forward".

Martin Wright represented Marine Current Turbines in the session on Investment and Finance. In outlining his opinion on finance from a developers perspective he discussed the issues that MCT have had to face and the more generic challenges that are faced by all involved in device development.

The City was represented by Mark Woodall, Executive Director of Climate Change Capital, a specialist merchant-banking firm acting for organisations who are affected by the introduction and convergence of energy and environmental policies. His presentation focussed on the challenges of raising third party funding for pre-commercial projects.

Stuart Deed, Business Development Manager of Scottish and Southern Energy emphasised in his talk that SSE were looking at wave and tidal energyvery seriously with an outlook to aid the development of this emerging sector.

A Scottish perspective on policy and finance was delivered by Maf Smith of the Scottish Renewables Forum. His interesting and unique presentation integrated the importance of Scotland in the development of a UK marine renewables sector with a brief look at how waves have been represented in art. His overall message was that differences in finance and politics must be resolved in order to present a united momentum to the industry and ensure success for the UK as a whole.

Session Four was opened by John Houghton of Bond Pearce Solicitors. In outlining an offshore development framework for wave and tidal energy he brought the legal dimension of marine renewables development and deployment to the floor, as well as highlighting that the challenges for the future have both macro and micro dimensions.

This was further enhanced by Melissa Moore, Policy Officer from the Marine Conservation Society. She highlighted the issues that developers of marine renewables will face when devices are eventually deployed into the marine environment. This perspective is vital to ensure that all possible challenges are resolved on the path towards commercialisation.

Philip Wolfe, Chief Executive of the Renewable Power Association discussed strategic opportunities for marine renewables. The bridge from R&D to commercialisation was the focus of his presentation and the means of support by which this could be crossed were outlined.

Robert Gross of Imperial College then took this further by looking at Innovation systems and UK policy gaps. He highlighted the shortfalls of the present structure of support and suggested options through which the future of the sector could be viewed. Emphasis was placed on the necessity of envisioning the development of marine renewables as a system through which devices progress from one stage to the next. He suggested that these stages should be addressed independently and clear exit policies devised to ensure efficient progression from one stage to the next.

In general this conference brought ideas and discussion to the floor that were of interest to all involved in the sector. In doing so it highlighted the necessity of consensus across the industry as a whole if the challenges on the path to commercialisation are to be overcome efficiently and the potential benefits for the UK are to be unlocked effectively.

What emerged was a conference built not around discussions of technical differences in the sector but one that constructively debated the issues that affect all committed to making marine renewables a success. It also highlighted that marine renewables are an option for the future that many people are taking very seriously now.

The interest this conference generated is now reflected within the BWEA, and a dedicated member of staff has been appointed in order to allow members access to all vital information on developments within the sector. Marine Renewables Development Manager Michael Hay will run the Marine Focus Group as a free service to corporate members. This will continue the highly respected work that the BWEA has conducted for the wind industry over the past 25 years.

Furthermore, working with the established offshore wind focus group will allow members interested in the development of marine renewables to draw upon a wide scope of expertise and experience.

For information on the BWEA Marine Focus Group contact Michael Hay by either calling him on 020 7689 1937 or emailing michael@bwea.com.