Consents

EMEC applies for the necessary licences to deploy on behalf of client developers. To facilitate this EMEC has produced a set of EIA Guidelines for developers to follow. The purpose of these Guidelines is to encourage and assist developers to consider as fully as possible the range and scale of impacts – positive as well as negative - that might result from the testing of their device/s at EMEC. The process requires developers to produce an Environmental Statement (ES) along with a Navigational Risk Assessment (NRA) and a Third-party Verification Report (TPV). EMEC then uses this documentation to accompany the appropriate licence applications.

Please Note: EMEC is currently updating the guidelines from the 2005 version to bring in various marine safety issues and fully incorporate the tidal test site.

As with any new industry, the extent of any potential impacts is unknown, yet need to be addressed in developers’ ES. The key to mitigating unknown potential impacts in the consenting process has been to encourage responsible monitoring to be put in place. This will provide reliable scientific data and thereby enable an objective assessment of any risk. In collaboration with experts, EMEC has sought to encourage and drive the adoption of consistent, best practice methods for monitoring, including any research elements. This approach will assist developers, both at these initial test stages, and in future commercial deployments

Environmental Impact Assessment

During the setting up of the EMEC facilities, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) were performed for the wave and tidal sites. Each site EIA comprised detailed considerations of the issues relating to the provision of the test facility in terms of infrastructure and use of the site in principal. As far as possible they also included generic considerations of the types of devices that were envisaged being deployed at the facility in the future. At the time the EIAs were commissioned, best attempts were made at predicting the issues that would need to be monitored in the future. A summary of findings are indicated below.

- Wave Test Site

In 2002 the EIA for the wave site concluded that the site displayed a typical diversity for its location, with no particular sensitivities. The range of environmental issues which need to be addressed will therefore be typical of the industry as a whole. At the time of preparation of the EIA these issues were left to be addressed in the future. However, as more devices come along for deployment at Billia Croo, the need for the best available data increases.

Download the Billia Croo Environmental Statement [1.4 MB]

- Tidal Test Site

In 2005 the EIA for the tidal site showed that the particular environmental sensitivities are mainly a nearby breeding colony of grey seals (a European protected species) and a breeding colony of cormorants. This area is also used by other sea mammals and cetaceans, and other diving seabirds. The potential for impact on these sensitive species therefore needs to be adequately addressed by developers in any application for specific device deployment licences.

Download the Fall of Warness Environmental Statement [10.3 MB]

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