Go back to previous list...

Blog: The peaks and troughs of 2014

Credit: Dan Birtwisle

Last year I finished my message saying “2014 will bring more challenges and I know we will rise to meet them”. Well the challenges came, we met most of them and some of them are just coming at us now, right at the year’s end.

As I write this we are still riding out ripples and waves from the recent unwelcome announcements; we are taking stock of the changed ‘seascape’, and know that EMEC is going to have to adapt to the new conditions. But I am pleased to say that the underlying swell remains in the right direction. We – and I mean everyone in the marine renewables industry – are still doing the right things in the right way in the right place for the right reasons.

However our timing has just taken a knock.

No one said that marine energy was going to be easy, and although no one wanted these setbacks, we should not forget that the progress we have made remains remarkable.

We have shown you can turn sea-water into electricity from both waves and tides, and we have opened the eyes of the world to the opportunities that are just off their shores.

People now see the seas as not only the main means by which we move goods and undertake trade, moderate our climate, produce food, and more recently oil, to sustain us. They now have a glimpse of the energy we have shown we can sustainably harvest and the jobs this can support.

So at the end of a hard year I make no apology for reminding people of the John F. Kennedy quote over the door here at the EMEC office:

“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by the cynics and critics whose vision is limited by obvious realities. We need people who can dream of things that never were.”

Only now you don’t have to just dream: you can see the benefits.

The foundations of the new reality continue to be built here day by day, MWh by MWh, contract by contract.

2015 will see us build on those sound foundations and make sure this is the first generation to benefit from marine energy.

Neil Kermode, Managing Director, EMEC

Highlights (and lowlights) of 2014

Test site activity

In addition to EMEC’s established test sites, in July The Crown Estate awarded EMEC seabed rights to progress a tidal stream project in the Stronsay Firth in Orkney, and to develop new marine energy sites in Harris and Islay. EMEC will manage these sites in conjunction with its local partners and sub-let areas of seabed for developers to progress projects.

We have launched two new animations illustrating the infrastructure provided by EMEC at our grid-connected wave and tidal test sites where a total of 12 wave and tidal energy developers have tested devices during 2014 (see table below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Developers testing at EMEC in 2014

 
Developer
Device
Rated capacity
Location
WaveAquamarine Power Ltd Oyster 800800kWBillia Croo
WavePelamis Wave PowerP2-001750kWBillia Croo
WaveScottishPower Renewables P2-002750kWBillia Croo
WaveSeatricityOceanus800kWBillia Croo
WaveWello Oy Penguin500kWBillia Croo
TidalTGL (a wholly owned Alstom Company) DeepGen1MWFall of Warness
TidalANDRITZ HYDRO HammerfestHS10001MWFall of Warness
TidalOpenHydro Open Centre Turbine0.25MWFall of Warness
TidalScotrenewables Tidal Power Ltd SR2500.25MWFall of Warness
TidalVoithHy-Tide1MWFall of Warness
TidalNautricityCormatNon grid connectedShapinsay Sound
TidalMagallanesATIRNon grid connectedShapinsay Sound

Notable public announcements included:

New deployments:

Unfortunately, there were also some setbacks, most notably for the wave energy sector when Pelamis Wave Power announced it was going into administration and Aquamarine Power announced plans to downsize their business.

This was undoubtedly a big setback in the mission to learn how to harvest energy from the sea, but here at EMEC we see the clever, innovative work that is being done at our test sites to bring an idea to reality, and the prize is still there. As Neil Kermode said in EMEC’s response to the Pelamis announcement:

“The waves will keep pounding into the Orkney coastline and the world is still using precious and irreplaceable fossil fuels at an increasing rate. We know marine energy will have its day.”

EMEC activity

In addition to managing the test sites and issuing permits (over 180 issued in 2014 alone), we’ve been progressing with a number of other initiatives throughout the year here in Orkney. Key projects include:

Events

In June, EMEC hosted the first EU Energy Day dedicated to ocean energy in partnership with Ocean Energy Europe, the trade association for ocean renewables in Europe. At the Orkney Ocean Energy Day, as part of the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week calendar of events, representatives from the European Commission, technology companies from across Europe, and local residents visited sites around Orkney to share understanding of how the industry has developed to this point and what is required to take it further.

In November, EMEC and FORCE (the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy) jointly hosted a discussion forum for international open-water test centres in Halifax, Canada, in association with the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE). Bringing together operational and planned test sites from around the world for the second time, the event built on EMEC’s Global Ocean Energy symposium held in Orkney, Scotland, in 2013, which created a global network focused on collaborative opportunities for test centres in support of the developing ocean energy industry.

Throughout the year EMEC attended, spoke and/or exhibited at over 40 events throughout the world from All-Energy in Aberdeen, Ocean Energy Europe in France, the International Conference on Ocean Energy in Canada, to the Grand Renewable Energy International Conference & Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Participating in around 30 working and advisory groups, ranging from Government sponsored task forces to industry strategy groups, EMEC continues to advocate the successful development of marine renewables in every way it can.

If you’d like to keep track of what conferences and events we’ll be attending in 2015, check out our Events Calendar early in the New Year.

Staff changes

The EMEC team has continued to grow throughout 2014 as welcomed 6 new staff to the Old Academy bringing our staff role to 27. Andrina Wick joined us in January taking on the post of Administration Officer, with Danielle Moodie beginning a new role as PA to the Executive Team. Dave Wakefield started at EMEC in February as QHSE Manager, and later taking on the new role as ETV Manager as well to support the development of EMEC-ETV.

In August Caitlin Long joined our Research team as Research and Consents Officer, superseding Christina Bristow who has been seconded to Orkney Renewable Energy Forum as their Development Manager. Danielle Wick took on the role of Administration Assistant to support Dave in the effective operation of EMEC’s Integrated Management System.

Elaine Buck joined us in September as Technical Business Development Manager supporting EMEC’s Commercial Team in the development of projects for wave and tidal energy. And Paul Shearer took on the role of Asset Maintenance Technician maintaining the company’s marine and electrical assets to a high standard, as Mark Wemyss left us for pastures new.

We have welcomed two new Directors to the EMEC Board this year as well, bidding farewell to our Chairman Bill Edgar who headed the company since 2005. Andrew Mill, who was the first Managing Director of EMEC from 2003 to 2005 returned to the company as Chairman, whilst Ron Chapman joined the board as Non-Executive Director.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

That’s it from the EMEC team for this year. Thank you to all our clients, suppliers, funders and supporters, visitors from around the world, and everybody in the local community for your continued support and cooperation throughout 2014.

We look forward to working with you in 2015 as we continue to work towards a future sustainably powered by the sea.

-

EMEC CLIENTS

Alstom

Alstom

hammerfest

hammerfest

Aquamarine

Aquamarine Power

atlantis

Atlantis Resources Corporation

Nautricity

Nautricity

Naval Group

Naval Group

openhydro

Open Hydro

Home_Orbital-Marine-logo

Orbital Marine

pelamis

pleamis

scottish_power

ScottishPower Renewables

seatricity

Seatricity

Sustainable Marine Energy

Sustainable Marine Energy

voith

Voith Hydro

Wello

Wello Oy

Supported by: