UP TO 10% of the island’s electricity could be produced by tidal power by 2014. That is the aim of Guernsey Electricity, which believes that a commitment to generating power locally from one or more renewable sources should be an integral part of the island’s future energy policy.
It wants to bring forward proposals for a major project by 2011.
Managing director Ian Watson said the company had decided upon tidal turbine generation after ruling out the cheapest source of renewable energy, in-island wind power, because of its lack of suitability.
To generate the equivalent five to 10% of power using wind turbines would have required 14 60-metre towers along the coast.
‘If we eliminate onshore wind, there are two forms of renewable left - offshore wind and tidal.
‘But we think tidal is the best way forward. The tide is more consistent than the wind. It’s there practically all the time and it would be less obtrusive. Nine-tenths of them would be under water.
‘The aim is by 2011 to have a firm plan and we would have production from these machines by 2014 or 2015.’
The proposals are set out in the company’s detailed response to the current energy policy Green Paper consultation, which closed for comments yesterday.
It recommends that the States mandates the company to bring forward plans by the end of 2010 for a commercial-scale, local, renewable project capable of producing 25,000 megawatt-hours of electricity a year.
This would represent around 7% of current annual usage, but this could easily rise to about 10% if local consumption fell as a result of improvements in energy efficiency.
But the major issues with such a project would be timing and cost.
‘We are in the early throes of doing this and there are various strands to what we want to do,’ said Mr Watson.
‘At the moment we are at the technical side of things but we also need to look at the commercial and legal sides of matters, such as who owns the offshore.’
However, Mr Watson said the big decision for government was how it would be funded.
‘It could come from government. It could come from private enterprise, but we think the States might have reservations about that.
‘It could also come from a carbon tax and we at Guernsey Electricity would welcome the States considering this because it would be akin to the polluter pays.
‘The final option is that Guernsey Electricity paid, but this has a significant disadvantage. It would increase electricity prices and people would burn more fossil fuels and we would not be doing our best for the environment.
‘This would work against us as an island trying to reduce our carbon footprint.’
Mr Watson said GE was not yet at the stage of earmarking where the tidal turbines would go. That would be known only once seabed and tidal surveys had been completed.
But the prototypes for such a project were now in the water at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland.
He added the Vale power station, which currently provides around a quarter of the island’s requirements, was still likely to play a significant role for the foreseeable future.
That will mean the continuing use of fossil fuels and the company is likely to replace some of its existing oil-fired generators as early as 2014.
Article posted on 19th January, 2008 - 12.00am
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