The Marine Socio-Economics Project (MSEP)
is a project funded by The Tubney Charitable Trust and coordinated by NEF
(the new economics foundation) in partnership with the WWF, the MCS,
the RSPB, and The Wildlife Trusts. The project aims to build socio-economic
capacity and cooperation between NGOs and aid their engagement with all
sectors using the marine environment.
Offshore energy in the UK:
renewables – marine energy
(wave and tidal)
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As an island nation, the opportunities for renewable
energy in the UK from wave and tidal resources are
immense.
The UK has currently more wave and tidal
stream devices installed than the rest of the
world combined.1 In 2013, the wave and tidal
industry directly supported 1724 FTEs (full time
equivalent jobs) and is expected to employ 20
000 people from 2035 according to Renewable
UK.2 It has the potential to bring additional
economic benefits as an exporter of skills,
services, and products.3
Forecasts by the renewables industry estimate
that the sector will be worth £6.1 billion to
the UK economy by 20354 and £50 billion by
2050.5 A recent focus has been on proving that
the technology works effectively and reducing
costs through the operation of demonstration
devices. The next phase will involve installing
the first wave and tidal energy farms, also
known as arrays (as offshore wind farms are) –
which will be a complex engineering challenge.6
The current installed capacity in the UK is
almost 9 megawatts (MW), and the industry
aims to deliver over 120MW by 2020.7 The
industry has the potential to deliver up to 60GW
of electricity, 75% of the UK’s current needs.8
The total amount of wave energy in UK and Irish
waters is estimated at 840TWh/year (terra watt
hours per year), equivalent to approximately
50% of the total European wave energy
resource. The tidal stream energy resource is
estimated to be 95TWh/year. The tidal range
1
EMEC (European Marine Energy Centre)
EMEC opened in 2003 and is the world’s only
grid-connected, full-scale wave and tidal energy
converter testing and accreditation facility in real
sea conditions. It is a global centre which is widely
credited with playing a significant part in accelerating
wave and tidal energy development in the UK
and further afield. Founded originally with public
money, it has been self-supporting since 2010. The
investment attracted to Orkney (Scotland) alone
by EMEC has far exceeded the initial investment
in establishing the facilities and, when the entire
UK is considered, the gross value added to the
economy has been calculated to be 4.5 times the
initial investment cost. Currently, EMEC employs 22
people directly and supports a further 250 people
working in the marine renewables sector in Orkney.
It has attracted developers and investment from all
around the globe. EMEC has become a centre of
expertise and is at the forefront of the development
of international standards for the testing of marine
technologies. Recently, EMEC established a number
of international collaborations with organisations in
Canada, Japan, the USA, South Korea, and Taiwan.9
1 http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wave-and-tidal/
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Renewable UK (2013) Wave and Tidal Energy in the UK.
5 http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wave-and-tidal/
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Renewable UK (2013) Wave and Tidal Energy in the UK.
MSEP Facts & Figures Series 3: Offshore energy in the UK: renewables – algal biomass
energy resource, both barrage and lagoon, is
estimated to be 121TWh/year, equivalent to
approximately 25% of the European tidal energy
resource. Of this, some 50TWh/year of wave
energy resources, 18TWh/year of tidal stream
energy resources, and 30TWh/year of tidal
range energy resources have been assessed
as being economically recoverable with today’s
technologies. To put these figures in context,
current UK annual electricity demand is about
350TWh/year.10
Scottish Renewables has calculated that the
total FTE employment in wave and tidal energy
development and supply chain activities in
Scotland alone is currently over 500. It has
been estimated that a similar level of additional
full-time jobs has been achieved in the rest of
the UK. This has the potential to increase as
technology continues to be developed and
more projects are announced.11
A vast array of technologies has been proposed
in this sector. Over 300 wave and tidal devices
have been suggested to date, but very few of
these are in an advanced stage of development.
For wave energy, different devices can be
located on the shoreline, near shore, or offshore.
Tidal devices fall into two main categories: tidal
barrages and tidal current turbines. Barrages
have already been successfully tried and
installed in a number of places; however, as
their cost and environmental impact are greater,
tidal current turbines are currently the leading
technology being proposed.12
An £850 million project, in the final stages of
the approval process (2013), could see the
first tidal lagoon in the world built in Wales. The
Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay project developers
forecast that this development could provide
power for 120 000 homes for 120 years.13
There is likely to be a larger number of potential
sites for wave projects than tidal ones.14
Scottish waters offer the majority of the UK’s
wave resources, and there are also significant
resources off South West England and Wales.
There are similar amounts of tidal stream
resources in English, Scottish, and Welsh
2
waters, and also tidal stream resources off
Northern Ireland. England and Wales share the
largest single area of tidal range resources, in
the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary.15
Wave and tidal developers face a number of
challenges on their journey to large-scale
deployment
These challenges relate to risks associated with
securing finance, solving technology challenges,
gaining connection and access to the UK’s grid
network, and managing consenting processes.
Management of these risks in an effective,
timely manner will be important to ensure
successful deployment, as well as to deliver
rapid reductions in the cost of energy.16
Wave and tidal electricity generation does not
require imported fuels, with associated price
volatility and risks of unavailability. Tidal power
has the benefit of being highly predictable,
meaning that both the level and timing of
generation can be planned in advance. Wave
energy, while being a form of stored wind
energy, counter-correlates with wind energy
– that is, it will peak at different points to wind
energy – as waves will move more slowly
towards a coastline than an advancing wind
front.17
Capital costs and maintenance costs of marine
energy projects are currently relatively high
compared with offshore and onshore wind,
mainly due to the impacts of seawater on
machinery. But costs are anticipated to fall for
three reasons: industry learning, technical
innovation, and industrialisation. In addition,
supply chain and financing costs are likely to
fall as volumes increase and risks are better
understood and mitigated.18
10 Renewable UK (2013) Wave and Tidal Energy in the UK.
11 Ibid..
12http://www.oceanrenewable.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/oregreport.pdf
13http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-26072805
14 The Crown Estate (2013) UK Wave and Tidal Key Resource Areas
Project Summary Report.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
MSEP Facts & Figures Series 3: Offshore energy in the UK: renewables – algal biomass
The sector also requires clarity on expected
levels of deployment over the next few years.
Between now and 2017, the industry must
deliver a first round of demonstration projects,
and begin work on a first generation of multidevice arrays.19 Perhaps the most significant
uncertainty for the UK’s growing wave and
tidal sector is a shift in government policy that
falls in the middle of the delivery period for the
first arrays. As such, this policy shift holds the
potential to halt or catalyse the development of
the industry.20
There is still uncertainty regarding the level
of environmental impacts that may arise from
the construction, operation, and maintenance
phases of wave and tidal projects at precommercial and commercial scale (both single
devices and initial arrays). A one-size-fits-all
approach to standardising impacts from wave
and tidal devices may not be possible, as
technology designs are highly variable.21
The development of renewable energy devices
is itself mitigation for predicted climate change.
It is recognised that the threat to the size and
characteristics of the ornithological community
and marine mammals using UK waters is much
more likely to be impacted by gross changes
in the environment than by individual marine
renewable developments.22
Key ornithological issues have arisen during
the development of wave and tidal devices and
arrays. However, wave and tidal devices are
generally considered to pose less risk to birds
(i.e., through displacement and/or collision)
than wind turbines, but some of the effects
include collision, disturbance/displacement, and
alteration of hydrodynamic regime.23
To date, there have been no reports of any
marine mammal collisions at any tidal devices,24
although recent events in UK waters suggest
that seals may be being killed by collisions
with ships with ducted propellers. Although the
circumstances and conditions under which such
fatal interactions occur are as yet unknown, it
is likely that deployment and operation of wave
and tidal devices will increase the amount of
shipping activity in areas that may be important
3
foraging sites for seals and cetaceans. This is
primarily a shipping issue, and is not restricted
to wave and tidal devices, although many
wave and tidal developments are likely to use
ducted propeller vessels during installation,
maintenance, and decommissioning, making
this issue of direct relevance to the wave and
tidal sector.25
In addition, marine mammals might be
affected by entanglement, entrapment, noise,
displacement, habitat exclusion, and ecological
effects such as ‘artificial reef’ effects.26 Fish and
shellfish ecology might be affected by barrier
effects on movement and migration, underwater
collision, habitat creation, underwater noise, and
EMF (Earth’s magnetic field) emissions.27
Briefings on Marine Energy
(renewable and non-renewable)
1. Offshore energy in the UK:
renewables – offshore wind
2. Offshore energy in the UK: non-renewables –
oil and gas
3. Offshore energy in the UK: an overview
4. Offshore energy in the UK: renewables –
algal biomass
5. Offshore energy in the UK: renewables –
marine energy (wave and tidal)
Series 3 was written and researched by Fernanda Balata
(Researcher at NEF) and Chris Williams (Marine SocioEconomics Project Coordinator at NEF). All the data examined
in this series come from the UK Government, The European
Wind Energy Association (EWEA), the Crown Estate, Renewable
UK, OIl & Gas UK, the Chamber of Shipping or Eurostat - unless
otherwise referenced.
These data sources can be found on the MSEP website:
http://www.mseproject.net/data-sources
19 The Crown Estate (2013) UK Wave and Tidal Key Resource Areas
Project Summary Report.
20 Ibid.
21 Natural Environment Research Council (2013) Wave and Tidal –
Impacts on fish and shellfish ecology.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
Published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), June 2014.
www.neweconomics.org Tel: 020 7820 6300 Registered charity number 1055254.