A SEABED survey of the Bailiwick’s waters which is being carried out is no guarantee the island will invest in tidal power projects, according to the head of Guernsey Electricity’s submarine survey.
Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce lunch yesterday, Sally-Ann David (pictured) reminded members that tidal power was not the only renewable technology that the company was looking at and it was keeping its options open.
‘While we think marine current turbine is the leader in the field and that maybe in three or four years’ time we will see that, we are keeping a close eye on how it develops.’
She said that technologies were changing and updating all the time and what might seem to be the latest innovation for tidal power at the moment could soon be improved upon and seem dated.
This was a trend that had already been seen in relation to wind turbines and now they come more or less as standard from one developer to another.
‘I just don’t see how some of the technologies will come to the market. But I believe in four years’ time we will have five or six solutions that are viable in the areas we are looking at.’
Guernsey Electricity began its survey on Monday. It is expected to last about six weeks and is designed to gather as much information as possible that could help potential developers assess whether conditions were suitable for tidal projects.
It is hoped the availability of this data would make Guernsey more attractive to developers as they would not have to carry out their own surveys at a cost of hundreds of thousands pounds. Instead they would pay Guernsey Electricity for access to the information.
The survey vessel is covering an area of 100 square kilometres and includes locations in the Little Russel, the Big Russel, off the south coast of Guernsey and around Sark. It will measure water depth, the characteristics of the seabed and the current flow.
Mrs David said there were four aspects to consider for any renewable project – the initial capital investment, the fuel to run it, operating costs and maintenance costs.
‘With renewable energy, the fuel costs are low but the capital costs are massive, while the operating and maintenance costs are unknown.’
With this in mind, she said it was crucial Guernsey maintained a diversity of supply with its cable link and diesel generators, for example.
Tidal power could also be a revenue generator through the cable link to Jersey and France.
She added that the installation of any marine turbine would be a huge step and in some respects it might be more advisable to do so in areas of a slightly slower current.
Otherwise, it could be like ‘operating a wooden go-kart in the Le Mans 24 hours’.
However, if the island waited to see the success of different types of technologies elsewhere, it could make the process cheaper and more efficient.
Article posted on 17th September, 2008 - 2.29pm
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