A UK perspec*ve on marine renewable energy environmental research: Keeping up with a ‘Deploy & Monitor’ philosophy Dr Ben Wilson ben.wilson@sams.ac.uk Bri*sh Isles United Kingdom (UK) Drivers for carbon neutral energy •  Poli4cal acceptance of climate change •  Poli4cal acceptance that humans probably responsible •  Ambi4ous carbon reduc4on targets •  North Sea oil running out •  Need for local energy security •  Exis4ng power plants ageing •  Areas with resource currently impoverished Scotland becoming a hub for marine renewables •
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Charisma*c leader (SNP) Appe*te for ScoMsh Independence Said no to nuclear power But no significant Plan B other than marine power Populace broadly in favour Scotland awash with resource WIND 25% WAVE TIDAL 10% Pelamis Wave Power 25% Current target is: 100% Scotland’s electricity equivalent from renewable sources by 2020 Concept development Full scale-­‐test Scale up arrays Resource Assessment Site selec4on Consen4ng Construc4on Commercial opera4on Decommissioning Roadmap for UK Wind
Round 1 – Prove the technology works Round 2 – Sort out the economics Round 3 – Build to generate power 25 GW by 2020 9800 km2 ¾ developments with significant consent hurdles: •  pile driving noise •  sea bird flight issues •  conflicts over fishing grounds Lunar Energy MCT Ltd Rochester Venturi TidEL HAMMERFEST STRØM AS Kine*c Energy Systems Verdant Power Statkrac Blue Energy TidEL 76 *dal-­‐stream energy concepts being progressed (SRF 2010) UW electric kite Blue Energy Dilemma: how to develop wave/*dal sectors when so many environmental unknowns? Survey-­‐Deploy-­‐&-­‐Monitor approach But goja put full size steel in the water. Go ahead based upon 3 main factors: 1.
Environmental Sensi*vity (of the proposed development loca*on) 2.
Scale of Development (eg < 10 MW) 3.
Device (or Technology) classifica*on. Poten*al environmental impacts BARRIERS
Single device TURBULENCE
MIXING
Device arrays COLLISIONS
NOISE
FOULING &
INVASIVE SPECIES
ARTIFICIAL REEFS
SCOURING
EMF
FISHERY REDISTRIBUTION
Private/Universi4es etc Concept development Test sites -­‐ EMEC, WaveHub Full scale-­‐test Scale up Resource Assessment Site selec4on Consen4ng Construc4on Commercial opera4on Decommissioning What sorts of environmental research are being done? Fundamental Environmental Research Industry generic studies EU FP7 ScoMsh Government Cowrie Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme Consen4ng specific studies 1. Consen4ng specific project: Do porpoises approach or avoid a wave device? (ongoing) 2. Fundamental research (geYng going) 1) Response -­‐ Understanding How MRED Opera*ons influence Fine Scale Habitat Use and Behaviour Of Marine Vertebrates 2) EBAO -­‐ Op*mising Array Form for Energy Extrac*on and Environmental Benefit 3) FLOWBEC – Flow, Water column & Benthic Ecology 4D 4) QBEX – Quan*fying benefits and impacts of fishing exclusion zones on bioresources around Marine Renewable Energy Installa*ons 3. Industry generic studies (coming) Cowrie (Round 1 & 2) Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (MS, DECC & TCE) Facilitate Round 3 developments £20M programme 4 Projects: Project 1: UK Wide Bird collision risk and avoidance rate monitoring; Project 2: Popula4on Consequences of Acous4c Disturbance (PCAD) models for noise; Project 3: Trialling Noise mi4ga4on technologies for piled founda4ons in deeper water; Project 4: mi4ga4on measures during piling using Acous4c Deterrent Devices (ADDs). Some lessons learnt 1.  Organisms may not care what brand of device or energy extrac*on it is (wind/wave/*de/oil plauorm) 2.  But obscure details (eg device color) may majer 3.  Test centres are good for some research but not all 4.  Natural inter-­‐annual variability doesn’t suit pace of development – need control sites 5.  Cumula*ve impacts encourage developers to race 6.  Beware the unexpected! Beware the unexpected ! Pictures courtesy David Thompson (SMRU) Challenges for researchers •  Rapidity of progress •  Lijle experience of working in energe*c sites •  Lack of tools to work in sites •  Major H&S logis*cs •  On – off nature of embryonic industries •  Wave & *dal-­‐stream developers don’t have much cash Concept development Full scale-­‐test Scale up Resource Assessment Site selec4on Consen4ng Construc4on Commercial opera4on Decommissioning and what if ……….. Thanks to p Evasion Wildlife Displacement l
Interference with
habitat use & movements
Surveys, passive acoustics
Oceanography l
Hydrodynamic modelling
Resource mapping
Energy shadows
Turbulent mixing
Habitat Modification l
Sediment Redistribution
Burying
0.8-­‐1 0.6-­‐0.8 0.4-­‐0.6 0.2-­‐0.4 0-­‐0.2 4 6 0.6 8 10 0.4 Blade Velocity 1 m 14 s-­‐1 0blade 1 .
2 thickness 6 2 m Collision Risks
Mammals • Fish • Birds
Modelling Behaviour
Encounter Rate, Evasion
Device acoustic
Footprints l
Device & background:
prediction, measurement
& mitigation
Artificial structures l Artificial Reefs
Colonisation
Invasive Species (staging posts)
Fisheries enhancement
1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 2 User displacement l Marine Spatial Planning
Relocation of fisheries
Recreation