SUPPORTING POLICIES FOR OCEAN ENERGY 

MARKET INCENTIVES

Contracts for Difference (CfDs)

The UK Government continues to offer revenue support to a variety of renewable energy technologies through the Contract for Difference (CfD) programme. Based on top-up payments to a strike price, CfDs offer long-term price stabilisation and are awarded via competitive auctions.  The Clean Growth Strategy and Budget has confirmed that the £557m remaining in the former Levy Control Framework (LCF) will be allocated to further CfD auctions to 2020, with the next auction planned for early May 2019.

Ocean energy technologies are within the “less established” technologies category as part of the CfD auctions, which also includes offshore wind and advanced conversion technologies. Ocean energy technologies have yet to gain a CfD through the competitive auction process. There was no CfD auction in 2018. The third round of auctions, worth £60m, will open in May 2019. Draft strike prices of £281/MWh for wave and £225/MWh for tidal stream were quoted for projects due to deploy in 2023/24 in the BEIS 2017 Draft Allocation Framework. These are shown in the table below, compared with the 2019 draft strike prices for other generation technologies in the “less established” category and the 2017 CfD second round of auction results. Despite defining strike prices for wave and tidal, without a ring-fenced budget for these technologies it is not expected that they can gain a CfD in a competitive auction.

UK Contracts for Difference for less established technologies: Draft strike prices and Auction results (£/MWh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PUBLIC FUNDING PROGRAMS

 

• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
  
  In operation since April 2018, UKRI brings together seven research councils to support and coordinate research and innovation in the UK. Independently chaired, UKRI has a £6 billion budget funded primarily through the Science Budget by Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The research councils and bodies operating within UKRI are the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), National Environment Research Council (NERC), Research England, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
  
   
• Innovate UK
  
  Innovate UK is a funding body that supports businesses in their development of new technologies and concepts, helping them to reach commercial success. Innovate UK awards grant and loan funding across all sectors to business-led and high-value innovation in the UK. The organisation also cultivates networks between innovators and investors, researchers, other sectors, policymakers and future customers on a domestic and international scale. Innovate UK is also a member of UKRI.
  
   
• Wave Energy Scotland
  WES – fully funded by the Scottish Government – is taking an innovative and unique approach to the development of wave technology in a research programmes. WES funds the progression of innovative technology to commercialisation through stage-gate funding.  Three levels of calls fund projects through initial to prototype testing stages. Funding is allocated within four categories of technological requirements, concerning internal components, overall WEC design, materials and manufacturing.   

 

 

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

This section contains an overview of the primary research institutions and their core project activity in 2018. 

KEY R&D INSTITUTIONS
 

• Supergen
  Set up in 2001, the wave and tidal Hub of Supergen - Sustainable PowER GENeration and supply - Programme delivers sustained and coordinated research into the development of the ocean energy sector.  Supported by EPSRC through calls and Centres for Doctoral Training, the programme has resulted in greater collaboration between academia, government and industry, the creation of new strategies and innovation programmes and provided an opportunity for international collaboration.  
   
• Supergen UKCMER
  Running from 2003 until 2018, the Supergen UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER) sought to engage developers, industry, academia and other stakeholders to conduct fundamental and applied research that accelerates deployment of ocean renewable energy. Supergen UKCMER culminated in this capacity in December 2018 after 15 years of operation.  The Centre held an assembly in Edinburgh to close down the long-running project and to introduce its successor, the Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub.  Supergen UKCMER was funded by the EPSRC and coordinated by the University of Edinburgh.
   
• Supergen ORE Hub
  The Supergen ORE Hub is coordinated by the University of Plymouth and now consolidates offshore wind research activity with that of wave and tidal. The Hub launches in early 2019, and will bring together research institutions across the UK to align activity, progress the sector to ambitious levels and cultivate a ‘research landscape’ – a justified and collaborative interactive map of sector needs from a technological, funding and ecological perspective that will be available for public consumption.
   
• The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE Catapult)
  ORE Catapult is the UK’s flagship technology and innovation research centre, combining excellent research, development, demonstration and testing facilities with leadership, industrial reach and engineering expertise. ORE Catapult accelerates the design, deployment and commercialization of renewable energy technology innovation.  ORE Catapult owns and operates over £250m of test and validation facilities including a 7 MW offshore wind turbine, a 100m blade test facility, a 1 5MW drivetrain test facility, subsea docks and HV electrical labs. By the end of financial year 2017/2018, ORE Catapult had supported 410 SMEs, participated in 196 R&D projects, and engaged in 301 academic collaborations and 628 industry collaborations.

R&D PROJECTS

This section outlines a selection of projects carrying out R&D activities in the UK in 2018. The projects presented do not form an exhaustive list but an overview of the UK’s contribution to the progression of the sector.

• EnFAIT
  The Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal (EnFAIT) project is a €20.2m Horizon 2020 project, which began in July 2017 and will run until June 2022. The project is a partnership of nine European companies and academic partners, led by Scottish tidal energy developer Nova Innovation. EnFAIT builds on Nova’s existing operational tidal array in the Bluemull Sound, in Scotland’s Shetland Islands, which was the world’s first grid connected offshore array of tidal energy turbines. It will extend the Bluemull Sound array from three to six turbines and demonstrate that high array reliability and availability can be achieved using best practice maintenance regimes. In 2018, the project successfully completed the design and planning phase and moved into the delivery phase, which will see three new turbines built and deployed at the site. https://www.enfait.eu/
  
   
• NESSIE
  The North Sea Solutions for Innovation in Corrosion for Energy (NeSSIE) project is an EU funded research project primarily focused on the research and translation of cross-industry anti-corrosion technologies in the North Sea basin (NSB) to the offshore renewable energy sectors. Led by Scottish Enterprise, NeSSIE is composed of eight partners over five countries. Planned to conclude in April 2019, the two-year project has produced a Roadmap for anti-corrosion solutions in the Offshore Renewable Energy sector and selected three demonstration projects to move the sector forward. http://www.nessieproject.com/
  
   
• TiPA 
  The Tidal Turbine Power Take-Off Accelerator (TIPA) project focuses on the testing of an innovative Direct Drive Power Take-off (PTO) solution for tidal turbines, with the aim of reducing the lifetime cost of tidal power by 20%. Running until late 2019, TIPA is led by Nova Innovation and funded by EU Horizon 2020. The project includes accelerated onshore and in-sea testing of a prototype PTO with third party validation and a commercialisation strategy for selling and licensing the product to ocean energy technology developers and related industries. Now into its final year, the TiPA project is progressing well. The PTO successfully completed the accelerated onshore testing phase at RWTH Aachen University during summer 2018 and will complete the in-sea testing phase in spring 2019.  The project consortium is comprised of six academic and industrial European partners. http://www.tipa-h2020.eu/
  
   
• Wave Energy Scotland
  In 2018, WES continued strong progress through its stage gate research, development and innovation programme. In 2018, Wave Energy Scotland (WES) awarded a total of £12.5m to thirteen wave energy research and development projects as the programme continued towards integration of sub-systems and deployment of fully functional prototype wave energy converter in Scottish seas. One project received £2.5m to pass into the final stage of the Power Take Off programme. This joined three ongoing Stage 3 projects and one completed project, which brought the programme’s first in-sea technology testing. Three projects were funded a total of £632k to continue development of control systems and three projects were awarded £1.4m to progress engineering of structural materials for wave energy converters. The turn of 2019 delivered a key milestone for WES, the award of £7.7m to two Novel Wave Energy Converter companies to build fully functional pilot devices for testing in Scottish seas in 2020. Funding allocated by EMEC in 2018 went toward the following: £7.7m for two half-scale wave energy converter devices; £2.5m for power take-off development; £526k to 3 Controls projects; £1.4m to 3 Materials projects; and £320k for research landscaping. This brings overall investment to £38m in 86 projects since 2015. To date WES has funded 86 contracts and been involved with 177 separate organisations, across 13 different countries http://www.waveenergyscotland.co.uk/
  
   
• FORESEA
  The FORESEA (Funding Ocean Renewable Energy through Strategic European Action) project grants free access to a network of northwestern european tank test centres to ocean energy technologies.  These test centres are EMEC in Orkney, SmartBay in Ireland, SEM-REV in France and Dutch Marine Energy Centre in the Netherlands. FORESEA receives €6.45m in European funding, of a total €10.75m budget. The project funded a number of innovative technologies and initiatives in 2018; specifically CorPower Ocean, Orbital Marine Power, Naval Group and Whitford. FORESEA will run a fifth real-sea testing call in early 2019.  In addition to this, FORESEA gave rise to Blue-GIFT, a coordinated energy technology demonstration programme led by EMEC and focused around the Atlantic Arc. Blue-GIFT was launched in October 2018.  http://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/funding-ocean-renewable-energy-through-strategic-european-action/ 
  
   
• CLEMATIS
  The CLEMATIS (Cable Lifetime Enhancement via Monitoring using Advanced Thermal and electrical Infrastructure Sensing) project, funded by Innovate UK, finished successfully in summer 2018. CLEMATIS achieved its objective of developing a smart integrated monitoring system for offshore underwater electricity cables. The project grew from the ORCHIDS feasibility study, progressing the system from desk-based theoretical testing, through to on- and offshore field tests. Project partners were led by Fraunhofer UK Research.  http://www.emec.org.uk/integrated-subsea-cable-monitoring-system-tested-at-emec/ 

TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION

PROJECTS IN THE WATER
 

Test Centres and Demonstration Zones
Critical to enabling deployment of wave and tidal devices, especially those under R&D, is the provision of offshore test centres and demonstration zones. Several of those have seen devices being deployed and tested in 2018 whilst others are an earlier stage of development. A selection of these facilities is described below.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC)
EMEC is a UKAS accredited test and research centre focusing on wave and tidal power development. Based in Orkney, an archipelago in the north of Scotland, EMEC has thirteen open-sea grid-connected test berths and two scaled test sites. Established in 2003, the centre provides a wide variety of test conditions, with a depth range of 1 to 51 metres and significant wave height average of two to three metres.  A diverse environment allows testing in a multitude of seabed and shoreline contexts, and water-depths.
 

Wave Hub
Wave Hub is a pre-installed grid connected site approximately 10 nautical miles (16 km) off the north coast of Cornwall for the testing of large-scale offshore renewable energy devices. The site has a Section 36 electricity consent and holds a 25-year lease for eight square kilometres of seabed divided into four separate berths. Wave Hub is owned by BEIS and operated by Wave Hub Limited.

FaBTest
FaBTest is a 2.8 km2 test site at Falmouth Bay in Cornwall. The relatively sheltered location of the bay allows for smaller and concept devices and components to be tested. The pre-consented site, leased from the Crown Estate, has a six-metre tide range and six- to nine-metre significant wave height variance.
 

Marine Energy Test Area (META)
Marine Energy Wales are establishing a new test area in the Milford Haven Waterway in Pembrokeshire.  The Area will comprise of a variety of sites with consent and grid connection, which will facilitate testing at component, sub-assembly and single-device stages. Development of the site will be informed by strategic advice provided by established test-centres EMEC and Wave Hub.

Morlais Tidal Demonstration Zone
The site in West Anglesey was primarily for its tidal resource and access to local infrastructure. Areas within the 37 km2 site are being sub-let for test and demonstration activities alongside some of the first array scale commercial projects. This is a £33 million project, which has recently been awarded £4.5m of EU and Welsh Government funds. Developers planning projects there include Orbital Marine Power. 

DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

This section is a non-exhaustive list of key projects tested, installed in the sea and operating in 2018.

 

•  

  MeyGen deployment (Source: SIMEC Atlantis Energy)

  MeyGen 
  The MeyGen array is owned and operated by SIMEC Atlantis Energy in Scotland’s Pentland Firth.
  
  In December 2018, the MeyGen project confirmed it has surpassed 10 GWh of generation onto the grid since project commencement.
  
  Around this time, the remaining two, of four, turbines were successfully redeployed following modification work in winter 2018. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nova Innovation Deployment, Bluemull Sound (Source: Nova Innovation)

• Nova Innovation
  Nova Innovation was granted an extension to their existing seabed lease by Crown Estate Scotland, significantly increasing capacity from 500 kW to 2 MW. This extension will enable Nova to progress their EnFAIT project with the installation of three additional Nova M100 turbines, each rated at 100 kW. This installation will double the generating capacity deployed at the site and increase the number of turbines in the water from three to six.
  
  In October 2018, Nova Innovation installed a Tesla battery in the Shetland Tidal Array to create the world’s first baseload tidal power plant, capable of providing predictable, controllable and renewable power to the grid.  

 
 

• CorPower Ocean C3 deployment at EMEC (Soure: CorPowerOcean)

  CorPower 
  CorPower deployed their half-scale C3 device and demonstrated 18 months of combined dry and ocean testing, completing the Stage 3 demonstration programme mid-year at EMEC Scapa Flow scale test site. EMEC oversaw testing in dry and wet conditions and provided verified quality control and assurance services at each stage. 
  
  In partnership with EMEC, CorPower will feed the results from these tests into their WaveBoost project, improving their upcoming technology developments.

 
 

• Marine Power Systems
  Swansea-based wave developer Marine Power Systems (MPS) built their 10 kW WaveSub device in Pembroke Dock and are currently finalising tests in FaBTest, Cornwall. This was a £5.5 million project, which has received £3.5 million WEFO & Welsh Government funding. More recently, MPS are underway on the next phase of the WaveSub development, which will also be built in Pembrokeshire.
  
  
   

• Orbital Marine Power’s SR1-2000 device (Source: Orbital Marine Power)

  Orbital Marine Power
  Tidal developer Orbital Marine Power continued testing of their first full commercial scale machine, the SR1-2000 2 MW twin rotor floating tidal turbine at the site.
  
  In 12 months of continuous operation, the machine supplied 3 GWh - at times over 25% of the electricity demand of the Orkney Islands. 

 

 

• Minesto DG500 being deployed at Holyhead Deep, Wales (Source: Minesto)

  Minesto
  In 2018 Swedish tidal developer Minesto built and deployed their commercial scale DeepGreen500 tidal kite off Holyhead, North Wales.
  
  This project was supported by €13 million of European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government. 
  
  Testing of the DG500 will continue in 2019.

 
 

 

 

 

• Wello Oy Penguin operating at EMEC Billia Croo test site (Source: EMEC)

  Wello Oy
  At EMEC’s Billia Croo test site, Wello Oy’s Penguin WEC marked its first year of deployment in March 2018 and continues to demonstrate survivability in weathering a number of storms and waves of over 18 metres. 

 
 

 

 

 

PLANNED DEPLOYMENTS
This section contains a non-exhaustive summary of wave and tidal projects expected to be deployed in 2019 and early 2020.  

Wave

Bombora Wavepower: Australian wave energy developer Bombora Wavepower set up their EU headquarters in Pembroke Dock, Wales at the end of 2017 and is now conducting a £20 million project to construct and test a 1.5 MW wave device off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Bombora secured a £10.3 million ERDF grant to support this project and now have a team of 18 staff based at Pembroke Dock.

Laminaria: Laminaria’s 200 kW LAMWEC wave device will be deployed at EMEC’s Billia Croo site in 2019. The surge point-absorber device’s design includes a bespoke storm protection system, which will maximise survivability and optimise operability in all weathers. This has benefitted from MaRINET2 and FORESEA funding for test site access.

Wello Penguin: Wello’s next generation Penguin WEC was deployed in Tallinn, Estonia throughout 2018 and will be relocated to EMEC for deployment next to the existing Penguin WEC in 2019. In November, a marine licence was granted for the installation, operation and decommissioning of the three-WEC array and the subsea hub at EMEC.  Ultimately a three-device farm will be tested at EMEC.

Tidal 

Instream Energy Systems: Manufactured and constructed by Leask Marine, Instream Energy Systems will deploy their surface floating tidal platform at EMEC in 2019. The 100 kW device will be the first tidal platform to be constructed at EMEC.  The project is funded by Innovate UK’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Magallanes Renovables: Magallanes Renovables have completed construciton of their 2 MW floating tidal device and during 2018 it was located to Orkney. Final commissioning and installation will take place during 2019 at EMEC’s Fall of Warness test site.

Nova Innovation: Nova Innovation plan to install three more M100 100 kW turbines alongside the three turbines currently in place at Bluemull Sound in Shetland. The first will be deployed in 2019 with the remaining two planned for installation in 2020, for extended operation and to understand array interactions across the six-turbine array.  

Orbital Marine Power: In 2019 Orbital Marine Power will design and build their optimised production model, the Orbital O2 2 MW, for deployment at EMEC in 2020. The Orbital O2 is funded under Horizon 2020 FloTEC (Floating Tidal Energy Commercialisation), with funding from Interreg North-West Europe ITEG (Integrating Tidal Energy into the European Grid) for the moorings and actuation system. Orbital Marine Power also received £7 million of peer-to-peer Abundance investment in October 2018 to build the production model. 

SIMEC Atlantis Energy: Project Stroma/Phase 1B of SIMEC Atlantis Energy’s MeyGen project is to install an additional two Atlantis turbines uprated to 2MW each using larger diameter rotors and more powerful generators. Deployment is planned for late 2019 at the earliest subject to consents and funding with €16.8 million revenue support package already secured under the European Commission’s NER300 programme. Project Stroma will lead into further phases of expansion up to about 400 MW of generation.

Tocardo: As part of the Horizon 2020 funded InToTidal project Tocardo’s Universal Foundation System (UFS) floating tidal platform is planned to be deployed for testing at EMEC in 2019. The platform is capable of integrating five-turbines. While testing of the platform will initially use Tocardo’s turbines, the platform is intended to provide a generic solution viable for any turbine model.

 

 

OTHER RELEVANT NATIONAL ACTIVITIES

27th February 2018 and 18th July 2018 – Marine Energy Policy Fora, London
28th February 2018 – RenewableUK Wave and Tidal 2018, Glasgow
19th April 2018 – Marine Energy Wales Annual Conference 2018, Cardiff
2nd – 3rd May 2018 – AllEnergy 2018 
2nd May 2018 – Marine Energy Council (MEC) kick-off meeting, Glasgow
18th July 2018 – Marine Energy Showcase, London
26th September 2018 – Scottish Renewables Marine Conference 2018, Edinburgh
30th – 31st October 2018 – Ocean Energy Europe 2018, Edinburgh 
5th December 2018 – Supergen Annual Assembly, Edinburgh
6th December 2018 – Wave Energy Scotland Annual Assembly, Edinburgh

Marine Energy Council 
In 2018, the industry formed the Marine Energy Council as to engage with the UK Government and other stakeholders in a unified manner. The council is made up of representatives from the industry including those from Renewable UK, Scottish Renewables, Marine Energy Wales and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, plus members from technology and project developers, supply chain companies and consultants. Throughout the year, the industry has engaged with a number of parties to develop a suitable benefit case for the support by the UK Government of marine energy through new revenue support models aligned with its industrial strategy, bringing investment, export opportunities and jobs to the coastal communities where the sources of marine energy can be accessed.

MARINE SPATIAL PLANNING POLICY
Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) policy exists in UK but it is used as a decision making tool currently only in the East of England Inshore and Offshore areas.

An interactive tool – the Marine Information System - explains how marine plans apply to different marine sectors and geographic areas. It highlights policies that apply to a chosen area to inform plan users (available at: http://mis.marinemanagement.org.uk/).

Eleven marine plan areas will have a marine plan with a long-term (20 years) view of activities and will be reviewed every 3 years. There will be ten marine plans as the North West will have a single plan following requests to have a single process and one plan for these areas. All marine plan areas are scheduled to have a plan by 2021.

The Crown Estate carries out periodic tendering processes for wave/tidal areas. These areas are scoped and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) carried out.

AUTHORITIES INVOLVED
The authorities involved in the consenting process are:

• Marine Management Organization (MMO);
• National Resources Wales (NRW).

In English and Welsh offshore waters, marine licenses, section 36/A consents, and safety zones are determined by the MMO. In Welsh inshore waters, marine licenses are determined by the NRW and section 36/A consents and safety zones by the MMO. Decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations is regulated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

CONSENTING PROCESS
Main sequential steps (licenses, consents, permits) required to get permission for project deployment is presented in the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/planning-development/marine-licences.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Assessment is based on the size, nature, and location of each proposal as directed by Annex II of the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 or Schedule II of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2000.

The Marine Management Organization (MMO) is responsible for providing a decision on whether an EIA is required or the applicant can voluntarily opt in to the process.

The Environmental Statement (ES) will be submitted at the application stage for a marine license. However, draft ES chapters may be reviewed by the MMO and its technical advisors at the pre-application stage.

LEGISLATION AND REGULATION
Legislation and regulations related solely with the consenting process for ocean energy:

• The Electricity (Offshore Generating Stations) (Applications for Consent) Regulations 2006;
• The Electricity (Offshore Generating Stations) (Safety Zones) (Application Procedures and Control of Access) Regulations 2007;
• The Electricity Act 1989 (Requirement for Consent for Offshore Wind and Water Driven Generating Stations) Order 2011.

Legislation and regulation that has been adapted to better suit ocean energy:

• Electricity Act 1989 for section 36 consents and safety zones.

CONSULTATION
Consultation process is initiated after the initial checking of the application.

This is done primarily through the online portal Marine Case Management System (MCMS) but also by email to other consultees as appropriate.

There are statutory consultees stipulated in either the Marine and Coastal Act 2009, the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 or Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2000. Consultation in taken on a case-by-case basis.

There are no informal consultation activities implemented during the licensing process.

GUIDANCE AND ADVICE
The MMO have a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) target of 13 weeks to make a determination on a marine license application from when it is received with us. There is no such KPI for 36 consents or safety zones.
Information about what permits are required, in what order and what information must be supplied at what time is available at a dedicated web link.

TEST CENTERS
Usually deployment in designated test centers are already pre-consented so developers do not have to submit a full application comprising all the typical consents providing certain initial conditions are met. This is the approach encouraged for applicants to adopt in order to streamline the consenting process for the deployment of demonstration devices.