Consents
EMEC provides support and guidance to client developers throughout the consenting process, and submits applications for the necessary licences to deploy on behalf of clients. To facilitate applications, EMEC has issued a Guidance document [link] for developers to follow in preparing their supporting environmental documentation. The purpose of this Guidance 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 Report (ER) along with a Navigational Risk Assessment (NRA) and a Third-party Verification Certificate (TPV) to accompany licence applications. A Decommissioning Programme as per the DECC Decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations under the Energy Act 2004: Guidance notes for industry must also be prepared prior to deployment.
As with any new industry, the extent of any potential impacts is unknown, yet these need to be addressed in a developers’ ER. 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.
- 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.