Tag Archives: Orkney

Argyll leads groundbreaking SNH and SEPA research into interaction of tidal turbines and marine life

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Sea Gen tidal turbine StrangfordThe Scottish Association of Marine Sciences (SAMS) at Dunstaffnage – whose annual Open Day is this Saturday (7th March) – is to lead groundbreaking research commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).

This three year project will investigate the interaction between tidal turbines and marine life. Its purpose is to assist the Scottish Government to realise the economic and environmental potential of marine renewable energy resources without coming into conflict with protected species.

SNH’s role is to help developers and planners to develop the sector in a way that avoids conflict with protected wildlife and habitats.

The research will specifically focus on the background noise levels in areas being considered for tidal energy development, as well as the noise made by tidal turbines.  It will also explore the extent to which marine animals, particularly protected species, can detect and, potentially, avoid colliding with these devices.

SAMS, in collaboration with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, has developed a novel method of measuring sound in areas of strong tidal flow. This expertise is clearly crucial to the project.

In theory it is possible for marine energy developments to impact on some species during construction, installation and operation.  However, little is known about what these impacts might be, as there are few devices installed anywhere in the world and little in the way of existing scientific research to refer to.  This is the driver of the research initiative announced.

The project underlines the serious engagement of Scotland with renewable energy development in which it intends to be a world leader. The early initiation of such a research will mean that decisions taken by the Governemnt and the planners will be better informed from the outset.

The expertise resulting from the research itself will help to estbalish the authority of Scotland’s position in the field.

SAMS’ Marine ecologist, Dr Ben Wilson, who will be supervising the project, says: ‘This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to both sustainable marine energy extraction and conservation.

‘Scotland is rapidly becoming a magnet for the companies developing devices to capture energy from tidal currents. These
machines however will have to share the sea with vulnerable and protected species like whales, seals and fish. Understanding how these animals will perceive and behave around underwater turbines is a mystery but sound will undoubtedly be the most important sense for them, particularly at night and in murky water.

‘Knowing what the natural sound-scape is like in prospective tidal energy sites and the noise output of different devices will help us identify those devices that marine animals will most easily move around without harm.

‘With this understanding we will be better able to promote those machines that have the most gentle ecological footprints’.

This project is a reminder of the high level expertise existing at SAMS in Argyll. Together with the significant resources here for tidal energy harnessing, this indicates a strong area of future economic development for Argyll.

The photograph above shows Sea Gen, the world’s first tidal stream generator now operating in Northern Ireland;s Srangford Lough. The wake demonstrates the power of the tidal current. The photograph is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.

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Argyll’s MSP and Energy Minister, Jim Mather, responds to concerns over Kintyre grid upgrade

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Jim Mather MSPAs For Argyll recently reported, Councillor Dick Walsh, Leader of Argyll and Bute Council, has written to the First Minister, Alex Salmond expressing anxiety about the exclusion of Argyll from the planned upgrade to the National Grid.

The National Planning Framework for Scotland (NPF2) is currently before the Scottish Parliament and is due to be debated on 5th March 2009. It sets out details of future plans for electricity grid reinforcements, including sub-sea cables. Councillor Walsh points out that, in spite of previous representations from Argyll and Bute Council, the crucial Hunterston to Carradale cable has not been included in the plan, while cables for Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles are planned.

For Argyll contacted Mr Mather on the matter and the Minister has now sent this information for publication: ‘The issue of Grid connection has been getting the focus that the people of Argyll & Bute and the rest of Scotland would expect. This Scottish Government has always believed that subsea transmission options must be considered if we are to fully capitalise on our abundant renewable energy potential on the West Coast. We are therefore involved in a subsea grid study, in partnership with the administrations of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

‘In 2007, the Scottish Government, along with the Department of Trade and Industry (Northern Ireland) and the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (Republic of Ireland), with full funding support from the EU Interreg IV programme, commissioned a pre-scoping grid study.

‘The aim of this study was to identify the requirements of a full feasibility study for capitalising on the natural resources of the west coast of Scotland, the north and east coasts of Northern Ireland, the Irish Sea and the west coast of the Republic of Ireland, to generate energy from offshore renewables.

‘The report outlines what would be required for a full feasibility study into the development of an offshore grid in the region. The Scottish Government hosted an industry workshop to discuss the findings of the pre-scoping study on 8th April 2008 and has applied for EU Interreg funding, along with our Irish partners, towards the cost of a full feasibility study.

‘This detailed study will explore the technological, economic, construction and regulatory challenges associated with the development of such an offshore transmission network.

‘The aim of this work is to help make the business case for long term commercial investment.

‘Meantime, Scottish Ministers are aware of concerns about grid connection to Hunterston and have asked officials to meet with Argyle and Bute Council to help develop their renewable ambitions, in the context of our national ambitions – and to strategically address barriers to achievement.

‘The Proposed National Planning Framework 2 (NPF2) is currently being considered by Parliament.  A report of the parliamentary consideration, with any recommendations for changes, is anticipated to be made available to Scottish Ministers on or after 6th March (the end of the consideration period).  We will consider that report in making any final changes to NPF 2.

‘Any concerns over the omission of a subsea cable from Hunterston to Carradale in the Proposed National Planning Framework (NPF) 2 should be made known to the Convenor of the Local Government and Communities Committee (the lead committee) as soon as possible in order that the committee is aware of the issue in finalising its report’.

This last is obviously an action for Argyll and Bute Council to take as a matter of urgency. The meeting promised here by the Minister between officials and the Council to pursue Argyll’s needs for the Hunterston – Carradale cable is another crucial opportunity.

In the field of renewable energy development – so critical for Scotland’s non-nuclear energy delivery strategy – Scotland needs Argyll as much as Argyll needs this grid upgrade. Argyll has very real and necessary resources across a wide spectrum of potential renewable energy sources. Having said that, it is important for the Council, as its Leader is doing, to keep Argyll in the forefront of the Scottish Government’s consciousness, automatically associated with renewable energy delivery.

Footnote: Underlining Scotland’s status in the field, the British-Irish Council meeting on Friday (20th February) gave the Scottish Government the lead role in developing renewable energy technology while the UK Government looks at proposals to renew the grid infrastructure.

UK Treasury planned to delay devolution, redraw boundaries and cast Orkney and Shetland adrift – to protect claim on Scotland’s oil

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Oil platformThis scenario is not something to work up much steam about today because it comes from a thirty year-old document acquired by The Times newspaper – but it does underline, as if we didn’t know, just how dirty and how greedily self-serving politics can get.

In 1975 , the UK was looking at a growing spirit of independence in Scotland. In 1965 John Prebble’s book on The Highland Clearances was published and became quickly and powerfully influential in fuelling a sense of colonial betrayal in the Scots people.

In 1974 the playwright John McGrath had had a major success with his play, The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil. This was a sort of dramatised history of Scotland since the Highland clearances, with a picture of the perceived betrayal of the people then followed by the contemporary betrayal in the theft of ‘Scotland’s Oil’.

All of this contributed to a scenario that made the UK Treasury start preparing some contingency planning to protect its own interests in the best imperial fashion. It is some of these contingency planning documents that The Times has now got hold of.

The paper prints extracts from a 1975 paper written by Sir David Walker, then Assistant Secretary at the Treasury. He recommends that: ‘progress toward devolution should be delayed for as long as possible’. This was to allow the following actions to be implemented:

  • that Scotland’s coastal waters should have their boundaries redrawn
  • that a new North Sea sector should be created which would ‘neutralise’ Scotland’s claim
  • that a local campaign for independence in Orkney and Shetland should be incited to split and weaken territorial claims to the oil.

None of this happened, of course, but the will was there. It always is.That’s politics. Never imagine it plays by any rules other than that the winner takes all.

The photograph above of an offshore oil platform was distributed by the American government and is reproduced here under the Creative Comons licence.

Argyll’s renewable energy potential will literally go nowhere without inclusion in planned National Grid upgrade

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Dick WalshDick Walsh, Leader of Argyll and Bute Council, has written to First Minister Alex Salmond as a matter of urgency. Argyll has been excluded from the planned upgrade to the National Grid.

The National Planning Framework for Scotland (NPF2) is currently before the Scottish Parliament and is due to be debated on 5th March 2009. It sets out details of future plans for electricity grid reinforcements, including sub-sea cables. Councillor Walsh points out that, in spite of previous representations from Argyll and Bute Council, the crucial Hunterston to Carradale cable has not been included in the plan.

In contrast, the cables for Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles are planned.

Councillor Walsh is saying: ‘The inclusion of this sub-sea cable in the National Planning Framework is critical to Argyll and Bute’s future as a centre for renewable energy production.

‘The electricity grid within Argyll and Bute is currently “saturated” – with the result that any new energy projects, even very small ones, are being refused connections any earlier than 2018. We need to increase capacity so that we can play to our strengths and introduce new wind, marine and tidal developments.

‘I cannot over-emphasise the importance of the Hunterston to Carradale sub-sea cable if we are to ensure that our extensive renewable resources can be harnessed for the long term benefit of our economy, our communities and our businesses’.

The situation highlighted by Councillor Walsh is a very serious one for Argyll. This is a place that urgently needs to establish a long-term earning capacity to sustain its economy. It is the second largest local authority area in Scotland and has a small populatiuon which is the third most dispersed in Scotland.

This means that the infrastructural and service costs Argyll annually faces are significantly higher than is the case in most other Scottish local authorities while it lacks the population base to pay for them in taxes.

In every sense, renewable energy generation is a major and enduring answer to Argyll’s economic needs. it has first class and accessible resources over the spectrum of tide, wave, wind and biomass.

It may have the means to generate this type of power and to keep generating it, but without a grid capable of carrying the power away from its sources, no serious production project can be launched here. Argyll is shackled from the start.

Argyll is Scotland’s Cinderella – beautiful but poor and orphaned. It’s close to the Central Belt but not of the Central Belt in culture or in nature. It’s technically part of the Highlands and Islands but, as that region’s most southerly territory, is not owned by the Highlands at the necessary visceral level. Argyll is not one of ‘the home counties’ for, say, Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The Highlands and Islands see Argyll as close to the Central Belt and therefore brushed with relative gold dust and not in need. This is very far from the case.

Argyll is hugely rich in natural resources and in the beauty of its landscape. It is economically poor and lacks the employment possibilities to attract economically active incomers and to offer opportunities with real career development to its young people. It’s two real strengths for economic development are renewable energy and activity tourism.

Argyll and Bute Council has made serious strides forward in its governance of the area but however strongly it walks and however focused it is on its targets,  it needs arrows in its quiver.

Argyll’s constituency MSP is the Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Minister, Jim Mather. He is very well placed to understand the economic development needs of Argyll and to know its place in the Government’s priorities in renewable energy development. For Argyll is drawing this matter to his attention and asking him to send us his perspectives on the situation for publication.

The photograph of Argyll and Biute Council Leader, Dick Walsh, has been cropped from a group shot issued to For Argyll by the Council’s Communication Team, taken at the recent launch in Argyll of the Registrar General’s Book of Scottish Connections.

Argyll encouraged by 38 expressions of interest in marine energy development in Pentland Firth

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Sound of IslayAn indication for Argyll of the depth of interest in marine energy generation is the announcement by the Crown Estate that it has received 38 expressions of interest in leasing parcels of the sea bed in Scotland’s Pentland Firth for marine energy projects. These expressions of interest have come from single companies and from consortia.

The Crown Estate  owns the seabed between the mainland and Orkney – which one day will be an issue and, unsurprisingly is delighted with the lively response to its opening the Pentland Firth area for such bids. First Minister Alex Salmond also found the degree of interest encouraging.

The Scottish Government is preparing a new planning document – the Marine Spatial Plan – which will describe the commercial opportunities and the challenges to be faced in harnessing marine energy.

Argyll has very real potential resources in marine and tidal renewable energy development. The main one of these is the Sound of Islay with its 9 knot bore and, as we have reported, the Islay Energy Trust are already engaged with Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University in a major project which will see trials of a marine turbine installation take place in a selected area of the Sound.

The level of interest in the Pentland Firth is proof of the incentive for Argyll’s to start preparing for such developments in its own powerful seaways and waterways.

The photograph above is by the copyright holder, Peter Ewards and shows the shoreline on the Sound of Islay looking north across to Jura and the Paps of Jura. It is reprodiced here under the Creative Commons licence.

Argyll to get funding to maintain construction industry and housing development during recession

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The Scottish Government recently announced that it had set aside £17million from its total projected spend of £120million to reinvigorate the Scottish economy in these recessionary days.

Deputy First Minister, NIcola Sturgeon has just announced the successful bidders for parts of this £17million allocation. The money will be spent by housing associations on unsold homes and land and on getting housing developments off the ground.

The government announced in August that it was bringing forward £100million from money it had set aside for 2010/11 in its £1.5billion affordable housing programme. Its intention is to kick start stalled housing developments. Since the August announcement, that money to be brought forward has been increased to £120million, with a pledge to spend £40million of it this financial year and £80million next year.

Argyll and Bute will share £3.7million with the Western Isles, Aberdeen, Angus, North Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire. This is to be used by housing associations to buy up land for developments.

Argyll and Bute will also share £3 million with Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, Borders, West Lothian, East Ayrshire and East Dunbartonshire. This allocation is to be spent on kick starting actual building.

£10.1million will fund the purchase of homes from private developers in Orkney, Dundee, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, East Lothian, Midlothian, Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and Glasgow.

Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland,  is anxious to discover how many of the resulting new homes will be for rent and is urging the government to spend the rest of the promised cash as soon as possible.

Green MSP calls for ban on shooting common seals as Argyll’s seal population drops 25% in 2007

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Robin Harper, MSP for the Lothians, has called for a complete ban on the shooting on common or harbour seals. The Green party, to which he belongs, has highlighted research by the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University. This shows that Scotland’s seal population dropped by 56% between 2000 and 2007.

The Green Party also said that numbers in Argyll’s coastal seal colonies fell by a 25% last year and have been falling by 10% a year in Orkney’s populations.

The current rules allow common seals to be shot by licensed individuals to stop damage to fish farm cages and shootings are not reportable. This means that there is uncertainty on how many are shot each year.

The Greens say that research suggests that this figure is 3-5,000 and that UK-wide common seal numbers have fallen by 56% since the millennium. The Governemnt ‘believes’ that fewer than 1,000 are annually shot.

Mr Harper describes the common seal as: ‘an iconic symbol of Scottish marine life’, saying that: ‘they are also at the top of the food chain and provide us with strong indicators of the health of the marine environment’.

He wants the Scottish Government to ban the shooting of the seals and to increase the strength of measures to protect them in the new Marine Bill. At the moment the Bill contains a proposal for all shootings to be reported. Experts do not see this as adequate in halting the decline in seal populations.

The Seal Protection Action Group’s Campaign Director, Andy Ottoway, says that the Scottish public supports a shooting ban.

The Scottish Government admits that surveys following the introduction of measures in 2002 to regulate seal shooting in the Moray Firth suggest that there has since been a progressive recovery of seal numbers.The Government has set up the Scottish Seals Forum, bringing together all those with an interest in Scotland’s seals. This enables the exchange of information and the development of a co-ordinated approach to the management of Scottish seal populations.

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Tavish Scott says recession aggravates Argyll Islands’ disadvantage in ferry fares

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Shetland MSP and Leader of the Scottish Liberal democrats, Tavish Scott, has drawn attention to a new cost differential on living in and visiting the islands excluded from the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) pilot scheme. The recession is driving an increasing gap in ferry fares between the islands of Orkney, Shetland and Argyll with the Western Isles and others incuded in the scheme.

Mr Scott says that while the islands in the 30 month RET pilot scheme have their ferry fares stabilised until 2010 the others, including almost all of the Argyll islands are looking at fare increases of inflation plus 0.5%.

However, a spokesperson for the Scottish Government has refuted Mr Scott’s argument, pointing out that the Government has absorbed almost all of the fuel cost increases which would have affected all ferry fares. She also said that, in addition, the Government has given additional financial support of around £29m to NorthLink Ferries to operate the services to Shetland and Orkney. That, however, does not help Argyll.

There are Argyll islands, like Colonsay, already facing a situation where it is considerably cheaper for visitors to get to its neighbouring island of Coll which is included in the RET scheme. It is hard to argue that the combined impact of inflation and recession – which tightens everyone’s domestic budget – will not induce summer visitors to take the ferry to Coll rather than to other Argyll islands such as the Islay group of which Colonsay is one.

The concern for such disadvantaged islands is that almost three years of this competitive disadvantage may be enough to cement visitor habits, leaving a legacy of longer term sidelining.

Note: The Road Equivalent Tariff pilot scheme is measuring the impact on island life and economies of limiting ferry fares to the cost of a road journey of equivalent distance. If it is successful in supporting both islanders and those visiting the islands it is intended to be adopted, creating cheaper fares for all Scottish island communities.

CalMac ferry network said to be at risk because Scottish Government refused to consider Public Service Obligations

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MV Juno Funnel Creative CommonsProfessor Neil Kay is Emeritus Professor in Economics at Strathclyde University. He is is regarded as an authority on Scotland’s ferries and is known generally to lean towards SNP policies – a point with relevance to his current anger. Continue reading →