Cornwall: Leading the Way in Marine Renewable Energy
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the UK’s most south westerly county, offers an
exceptionally desirable lifestyle, with beautiful countryside, stunning beaches, a
wealth of leisure activities – and the warmest climate in the UK. With competitive
salary and commercial premises costs, unparalleled funding opportunities and a
business ready infrastructure, Cornwall is an attractive business location for French
companies.
Known as the UK’s green peninsula, it is fast becoming the hub for the UK’s
renewable energy sector. Cornwall’s climate makes it an ideal location for all types
of renewable energy – one of the prime reasons it has become home to global
leaders in solar, wind, marine and geothermal power.
The county has a pioneering history - the UK’s first wind farm was constructed at
Delabole (North Cornwall) in 1991 and the Camborne School of Mines pioneered
geothermal energy research through leading the £40 million Hot Dry Rocks project
in the 1980s – a range of more recent projects are underway. For example, the
county is home to the internationally renowned Eden Project who, with partner EGS
Energy Ltd, are racing to build the UK’s first hot-dry rock geothermal power plant,
which aims to be operational in late 2013.
The launch of the South West Marine Energy Park (MEP) in January 2012 marked
an exciting new phase in the development of the marine energy industry in the
South West of England. The South West MEP aims to create a positive business
environment that will foster business collaboration, attract investment and
accelerate the commercial development of the marine energy sector.
The
geographic scope of the South West MEP extends from Bristol to Cornwall and the
Isles of Scilly, with a focus around the ports, research facilities and industrial
clusters found in Cornwall, Plymouth and Bristol.
Cornwall is directly connected to a 400kV national grid with spare capacity for the
wave and tidal energy sector. With this world-class infrastructure in place,
companies generating wave, tidal and wind energy can sell it back to national
energy providers quickly and cost effectively.
Wave Hub is the largest and most technologically advanced, fully consented, gridconnected site for the testing and development of marine energy devices. This £42
million facility provides shared offshore infrastructure for the demonstration and
proving of arrays of wave energy generation devices over a sustained period of
time. Located 16km off the north Cornish coast of Hayle, in one of Europe’s best
wave climates, Wave Hub provides an electrical hub on the seabed to which arrays
of wave energy devices can be connected. Wave Hub plays a key role in supporting
companies to overcome the final hurdles to commercialisation, helping to address
the challenges of deploying at large-scale.
There are other test facilities available to the South West marine energy sector
including the Dynamic Marine Component Test Facility (DMAC) and FaBTest. DMAC
provides a secure low-risk setting to identify potential engineering problems and
refine designs more specifically and quickly than has been possible so far - before
testing them fully in the live environment. FaBTest, situated 3-5km offshore in
Falmouth Bay, is a nursery facility enabling wave energy device developers to test
components, concepts or full scale devices in a moderate wave climate with
excellent access to nearby port infrastructure.
Cornwall’s natural setting makes it the perfect location for a world-leading wave,
tidal and offshore wind energy industry. The peninsula of Cornwall, South West
England juts into the Atlantic and faces the prevailing westerly oceanic swell. These
long swells pack an enormous amount of energy – with a typical average range of
15-25 kw/m (kilowatts per metre of wave face) in the area around Wave Hub off
the north Cornish coast, increasing to 35-40 kw/m in the area around the Isles of
Scilly. While the waves are powerful, South West England benefits from less
extreme storm conditions that would challenge the “survivability” of the devices.
This is especially important in the early stages of their development.
Looking further ahead, there is significant potential for the expansion of offshore
wind in the South West. The development of floating wind technology could provide
a cost effective alternative to fixed foundations and would allow the deployment of
wind turbines in the deeper waters to the west of the Bristol Channel and off the
Lizard Peninsula. Wave Hub has been confirmed by the UK’s Energy Technologies
Institute (ETI) as the preferred location for its offshore wind floating platform
system demonstrator. The project aims to develop, build and test a floating
offshore wind turbine to investigate whether floating wind farms could play a costeffective role in helping to meet the UK’s energy needs. Wave Hub could host the
project as early as 2015.
The proposed Marine Renewables Business Park (MRBP) on North Quay, Hayle, is
currently awaiting funding approval. The park will include 2591 sq m of secure,
managed workspace. With the Wave Hub test site just 16km off the coast of Hayle,
the Marine Renewables Business Park will be suitable for all businesses involved in
the development, deployment and maintenance of wave power devices plus supply
chains supporting this sector.
Cornwall can offer marine renewable energy companies a rich skill set. Cornwall
has been world renowned for marine engineering and associated industries.
Traditional industries such as boat building and repair continue to thrive in Cornish
ports, while the engineering skills that underpin them have been harnessed to
support new industries such as marine pipeline installation and wind farm
construction. Also, Camborne School of Mines is a source of new skills. It offers
the UK’s first undergraduate programme in Renewable Energy (accredited by the
Energy Institute) and is also one of the world’s foremost centres of research and
teaching into the interface between earth science and sustainable development
from an industry perspective.
In addition, Cornwall is well connected to the rest of the UK; benefitting from
excellent air, road and rail links. Business competitiveness and opportunities for
flexible working are being transformed with the roll out of next generation
broadband. The £132 million programme bringing superfast broadband to Cornwall
allows internet speeds of up to 100Mbps, making Cornwall one of the best
connected regions in Europe. Cornwall also has access to an unparalleled range of
R&D support and to significant EU funding opportunities.
For more information or to find out how Invest in Cornwall can help your business
call
+441872
322800,
email
info@investincornwall.co.uk
or
visit
www.investincornwall.com.
Invest in Cornwall is a project of Cornwall Development Company
Key Facts about Cornwall:
Area (in hectares)
354,628
Population:
532,300
Number of VAT and or PAYE (pay as you earn) registered businesses:
20,105
GDP per capita:
17,600
GVA per head:
£7.3bn
Structure of local government
Single council called Cornwall Council
Universities/Colleges: Businesses located in Cornwall have access to some of the
UK’s finest graduates. Cornwall is one of the UK’s fastest growing study
destinations, thanks to a massive expansion of university level education in the
county through the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. CUC brings
together six universities and colleges in a unique partnership, working
collaboratively to create new opportunities in Cornwall. Each university and college
offers services to businesses, ranging from high level skills training through use of
equipment and facilities to potential R&D collaborations and consultancy. There is
also a central business support function which can make links between businesses
and university and college partners.
The CUC partners are:
- University of Exeter
- University of Plymouth
- Falmouth University
- Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry
- Cornwall College
- Truro & Penwith College.
Below is an outline of a selection of CUC partners who offer a vast range of courses
in Cornwall:
The University of Exeter - A top 10 UK University with strengths in geography,
biology, politics, law, mining and renewable energy.
Camborne School of Mines is part of the University of Exeter and is a world-class
centre of scientific and engineering excellence that actively fosters
entrepreneurship, innovation and research. The school has expertise in geology,
mining, minerals processing and renewable energy and applies this to world leading
research and teaching.
The University of Plymouth – Consistently ranked as one of the top three modern
universities in the UK, the Enterprise University, has strengths in advanced
composites manufacturing, entrepreneurship, environmental technologies and
marine science, engineering and technology.
Cornwall College - One of the largest further education (FE) colleges in the country
and partners with a number of FE colleges.
The main areas of research excellence are:
-
Digital economy
Low carbon economy
Creative industries
Food & drink
Sustainable construction
Innovation and continuous improvement
Engineering
Marine
Connections to London:
Daily flights from Newquay Cornwall Airport to London Gatwick with a 1 hour flight
time.
Regular trains to London Paddington from Truro from as little as 4 hours 40
minutes.
Biography of Author
Dominique Tregenza-Symons is the UK & EU manager of Invest in Cornwall,
Cornwall’s inward investment service. Invest in Cornwall has been set up to
provide support to businesses interested in relocating to the county. Funded by
Cornwall Council and a service of Cornwall Development Company, Invest in
Cornwall helps companies looking to relocate to the county to source locations and
business premises; grants and loans; secure IT, telecoms and broadband and
provides advice on recruitment, training and education. Additionally, Invest in
Cornwall is able to facilitate meetings with key personnel in local and regional
institutions who can provide businesses with valuable input and further support.
Dominique has worked at Invest in Cornwall since 2009. Prior to this, she managed
a market research service, working primarily with start up and established small
and medium sized businesses.