Scottish Executive to Examine Environmental Impacts of Marine Renewable Energy in the UK with Faber Maunsell and Metoc plc

The Scottish Executive has commissioned a major study to examine the environmental impacts of harnessing energy from Scotland’s marine environment, with consultants Faber Maunsell and Metoc plc, the environmental engineering consultancy.

(PRWEB) October 20, 2005 -- The Scottish Executive has commissioned a major study to examine the environmental impacts of harnessing energy from Scotland’s marine environment. Consultants Faber Maunsell, in association with Metoc plc, the environmental engineering consultancy, will be assessing the potential impacts of a range of technologies which generate renewable energy from waves and tides. The study team will undertake an SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) which will play an important role in informing the future development of a marine renewable energy industry in Scotland.

The study area will focus on the west coast of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland and the Pentland Firth. Within this area lies a considerable, and as yet untapped, renewable energy resource. A variety of new technologies are being developed which can convert the motion of waves and tides into energy. Some of these devices float on the surface while others lie on the sea floor or are completely or partially submerged.

The Executive's interest in marine renewable energy is driven by an ambitious target of increasing the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources in Scotland to 40% by 2020. The Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland’s (FREDS) recent report into the development of the marine energy industry indicated that by 2020, 10% of Scotland’s electricity production can come from marine resources, providing up to 7,000 jobs.

The SEA being undertaken by Faber Maunsell and Metoc will consider the environmental impacts of marine renewable energy devices, both individually and cumulatively. The study will include all relevant marine, coastal and land based environmental issues ranging from marine ecology, to fisheries, archaeology and the coastal landscape.

Consultation with interested parties – including environmental organisations, developers and local communities – will be a key part of the study. Ultimately the SEA will be used to inform national and local level decisions on marine renewable energy policy. This in turn will form a foundation on which the environmental assessment, planning, and development of individual projects will be based.

Notes to editors:-

1. Strategic Environmental Assessment

On the 20th July 2004, it became a legal requirement that, under the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes (Scotland) Regulations 2004, all spatial plans and programmes would be subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The 2004 UK (Scotland) Regulations transpose the requirements of European Directive 2001/42/EC ‘the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment’ (the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive).

The objectives of the SEA Directive, as set out in Article 1, are ‘to provide a high level of protection to the environment and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans and programmes with a view to promoting sustainable development’.

2. METOC plc

Metoc plc provides specialised guidance and services to resolve the range of environmental and related regulatory issues confronting the water, energy, marine cable and renewables industry sectors when planning, developing, installing, and maintaining new assets and processes in marine, river and land projects. Services include : research, planning, risk management, contract negotiations, data gathering and site supervision, as well as predictive modelling, and environmental optimisation.

Clients of Metoc include asset owners and operators, their engineering consultants and contractors in the water and energy fields – including water utility, desalination, oil and gas, marine cable, and off-shore renewable companies.

The company defines and advises on the specific options and opportunities for senior management and engineers to enable project teams to protect assets and optimise their productive use and performance, whilst achieving full legislative compliance and minimising related risks and costs.

For further information:    

Natalie Johnson

Metoc plc, Exchange House, Station Road

Liphook, GU30 7DW Tel: + 44 (0)1428 727800

www.metoc.co.uk

Media information:        

Patrick Rea, Rea-TMA Marketing

Tel: +44 (0)20 8870 4976

www.rea-tma.co.uk

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