Held in the Cardiff International Arena, the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) conference covered not just wind energy, but also renewable energies and energy saving more widely. It included a major Trade Exhibition and attracted Ministers and other major speakers.
Tony Juniper, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, was on a question-time panel along with former Minister Brian Wilson. The panel gave positive messages about boosting renewables for 're-powering Britain'.
The Renewables Order has proved a great boost for on-shore wind, but commercial reality came through in the Seminars. Only 3.1% of the UK target of 4.5% renewables is operating at present. As a consequence, 1 GW onshore capacity needs installing in the next years, compared to the actual present rate of 0.5-0.6 GW per year. Further, the impending Climate Change review needs to get us back on track (10% by 2010) and the Energy Review needs to set post-2015 targets and price guarantees.
Round 1 of the offshore wind licences has delivered 2 out of the 18 expected schemes, plus two just being commissioned. Centrica's speaker said that there is a funding gap between current installation costs of £1500/kW and the 'competitive' target of £1100-1200/kW.
Therefore the government needs to help out, and the speaker from Npower Renewables suggested that this should be via special ROCs for pioneer projects (these Renewable Obligation Certificates to be bought ahead by an Agency), or by socialising the grid connection costs (as onshore). Relaxing the conditions on security of supply was another suggestion.
The National Grid speaker complained of a long queue of applicants for new grid connections. On past record most applicants will drop out, making big difficulties for planning strengthening of the grid. This uncertainty also means that investment in UK supplier capacity is held back. Consequently, building anything like 15 of the accepted Round-2 sites will be impossible if they are all developed and built simultaneously.
Elsam reported that the third Round-1 scheme, Kentish Flats, is now installed 10km off Whitstable. The thirty 3 MW turbines (Vespa V90s) make it the largest scheme in the UK. The towers, nacelles and blades were all manufactured abroad, but were pre-assembled in Felixstowe. The fourth scheme at Barrow (by Centrica) is of the same size, but the towers have come from Belfast shipyards. There is an up-to-date list in a briefing sheet dated September on www.bwea.com
The Seminar on the Marine Bill was led by David Bench, DEFRA's lead marine legislator. He talked of the sustainable use and protection of marine resources, consolidating controls and streamlining consents, effective stakeholder engagement and creating marine-protected areas. Marine spatial planning - a commitment in Labour's election manifesto - should resolve competing demands, and DEFRA has an open mind on the type of marine management organisation. (See Marine Bill on MARINET's website for further details).
The lawyer for BWEA talked of resolving conflicts with shipping and, in particular, the obligation to free navigation in UNCLOS (UN Convention Law Of the Sea). The BWEA also wants permits under Section 36 of the Electricity Act, despite the National Assembly in Wales trying to limit this following the Cefn Croes controversy (s.36 for projects over 50 MW).
Jan Brown spoke of WWF's model Marine Bill which argues for an ecosystem approach and creating a network of Marine Protected Areas, including 'no-take zones' for fishing - see www.wcl.org.uk/marine_campaign.htm
The research seminar under COWRIE (Collaborative Offshore Wind Research Into the Environment) had a presentation on electromagnetic fields. Electro-receptive species (over 55 in UK waters) and magneto-receptive species (over 88) have been identified, but there's no knowledge on potential harm.
Another speaker on underwater noise talked of uncertainties due to sensitivities to different frequencies (fish to low frequency, mammals high frequency), and relating this to potential tissue damage. Pile-driving of the largest piles is noisy out to 10km. A further speaker described modelling the displacement of birds by windfarms - in reality, greater impact is caused by the traffic, including helicopters, going back and forth from the oil and gas rigs. They were assessing the scoters displaced in Liverpool Bay, but found that some potential feeding grounds are still under-used (so the model cannot be used predictively). The projects and preliminary reports can be found on COWRIE's new website www.offshorewind.co.uk