360o environmental impact and

regulation for renewable energy

Dr Gareth Davies

Introduction to Aquatera
Based in Orkney Islands - one
of the worlds most exciting
energy areas
Environmental and energy
planning consultancy
Key numbers

over 50 people,
Work for:
30 marine technologies
10 marine array projects
30 wind projects
involving 15 countries,
comprising over 300 renewable
energy studies

Pedigree of work in the

offshore oil and gas, shipping,
tourism and fish farming along
with renewables

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What is the environment

Resource
conditions

Baseline
sensitivities
& research
outputs

Planning
constraints
Operating
conditions

Physical
processes
Ecological
features

Test facilities

History &
culture

Technology trials
Supporting
infrastructure

Project arrays

Fiscal & policy

regime
Energy
markets

A holistic 360o perspective

on the working
environment is required

Other
commerce
Local
communities

Monitoring
results &
operating
experience

Regional
businesses

Marine management & control strategy

Jurisdictional settlements

Offshore

Strategic planning
Leasing
EIA process
Baseline studies

Near
shore

Impact assessment
Cumulative and trans-boundary
assessment
Mitigation, management and
optimisation plan
Marine licensing & onshore planning
Monitoring effects
Reporting outcomes
Managing legacy issues

Onshore
Conflicting claims, competing uses, compatible
activities, synergies, trans-boundary effects,
cumulative effects, onshore/offshore impacts,
environmental , social & economic effects,
technical & economic need

First priority - location, location, location !!!

Right part of the world

Right country

Right region

Right site

Approach to weighting
The distribution of the various
factors identified in the
weighting analysis was
entered into a GIS
The various scores are applied
to the areas, line and points
representing the various
features
Maps are prepared showing
the distribution of suitability
for the different major project
activities
Detailed maps follow:

Landfalls

Switching
station
Converter
station
Buried
cables
Overhead
lines

Where for energy generation?

Wide range of possible site
options
Sites need to be based upon
multiple criteria

Energy resources
Technical limits
Cost factors
Planning factors
Infrastructure

Sites need to take into

account scale of development,
timing & relationship to
others

Suitability for wave developments

Strategic spatial planning for energy

Energy category

Acceptability scenario
High
Medium
Low
Installed generation capacity (MW)

Current energy use

R&D
Existing/approved wind
Tidal current
Offshore wind
Offshore wave
Onshore wind (1 MW units)
Tidal head
Coastal wave
Energy efficiency
Micro-renewables
Biomass crops
Biomass harvest
Bio-digestion
Energy from waste
Total installed capacity (MW)
Annual power production (GWh)
Energy income (M@1.2p/kWh)
ROC income (M@4.6p/kWh)

201
8
23

201
11
23

201
17
23

1462
0
101
0
1
0
19
16
3
2
0.1
0
1603

2443
385
226
46
6
0
33
29
7
3
0.4
0
3177

3571
986
226
256
7
0
47
47
14
3
0.7
0
5158

5580.1
67.0
256.7

11057.6
132.7
508.6

17951.3
215.4
825.8

Tidal current
Offshore wind
Offshore wave
Onshore wind
Tidal head

Second priority - Optioneering

HOW to undertake activities
Typical pathway:
Consider all options
Identify barriers and
imperatives
Establish levels of
acceptability
Compare options with
one another
Optimise and confirm
selection

Third priority predicting resultant

significant impacts
Use established evidence
Map out certainties,
likelihoods &
uncertainties
Consider where the
balance of probability lies
Investigate any areas of
major concern (tested
against other priorities)

Impact scoping tool

Characterises key sensitivities
Analyses potential
technologies
Identifies key interactions
Establishes areas of
significance
Parks non-significant issues
Recommends approaches to
manage significant impacts
Stores an evidence base upon
which judgements have been
made
It filters 30,000 possible
interactions typically down to
5-10 key issues to be
addressed for a particular
technology in a particular
place

Current energy risks & impacts

Our existing energy
systems have led to:

Sea temperature rise

Seawater acidification
Polar ice melt
Changing species distributions
Increase in species extinctions
Oil spills
Oily water and chemicals discharges
Radionuclide contamination
Thermal pollution
Water filtration
Water abstraction
Underwater noise
Light pollution
Flare mortality for birds
Obstruction to shipping and fishing
Seabed disturbance
Seabed subsidence

The starting point is not

without existing issues!!

An Orkney case study

Orkney lies off the north of
Scotland the global centre
for renewable energy
25 years of effort & 10 years
operations experience in
marine energy
Over 50 years effort related to
wind energy

Wave energy experiences

8 technologies deployed, over
1000 marine operations
Moorings installed for 8
years without incident
6 piles drilled near shore
Birds, seals & cetaceans seem
unaffected
Little audible noise from
devices
No significant environmental
impacts recorded
Typically level of local content
~20-40% in terms of value ()

Tidal energy experiences

8 years, 10 technologies, over
1000 marine operations
No shipping accidents but
concerns in frequent channel
users
Little or no fishing in tidal areas
Birds and seals seem to stay out
of fast flowing tidal streams
No signs of behavioural change
in birds or seals
Fish seen at slack water but not
when tide is running
Basking sharks observed
swimming without any change
in behaviour past manoeuvring
tugs
No widespread seabed impacts
Typically level of local content
~5-50% in terms of value ()

Wind turbine experience

Wind for mechanical
energy
Wind for electricity
Now 85MW installed
capacity
25 large turbines (>1MW)
700 mini & micro turbines
(<50kW)

In 2013 Orkney produced

over 103% of electric
demand from renewables
Turbines becoming more
accepted in landscape
Tourism is unaffected
probably enhanced

Status of the marine management & control

strategy in Scotland

Jurisdictional settlements
Strategic planning
Leasing
EIA process
Baseline studies
Impact assessment
Cumulative and trans-boundary
assessment
Mitigation, management and
optimisation plan
Marine licensing & onshore
planning
Monitoring effects
Reporting outcomes
Managing legacy issues

Important to learn from

not to copy previous
practices

Comprehensive toolkit already exists

Strategic
Technology evaluation and
planning tool
selection framework
Best Practical Environmental
Holistic cost models
Option tool
Site selection tools & models
Baseline &
CAPEX &
Protocols for baseline and
monitoring
OPEX cost
monitoring studies
protocols
models
Impact prioritisation tool
Impact
Precautionary conservation Impact
Assessment
screening
protection framework
framework
framework
Cumulative effects
Habitats
frameworks
Cumulative
Regulations
Effects
Risk assessment tools
tool
model
Stakeholder communication
tools
Navigation Risk
Hazard Identification
& Risk Assessment
tool

Assessment
template

Conclusions
Early devices have not shown
any hidden impacts,
ecological impacts are minor
at most
Learning from global
experience can avoid unnecessary costs, delay and
precaution
Need to build mechanisms for
sharing data and experiences
Renewables are better for the
environment than existing
energy systems should we
start treating them in that
way?