wiredinUSA April 2014

INDEX

Fergus Ewing, Scottish energy minister

What is believed will be the world’s third largest offshorewind farmhas been cleared for construction in the Moray Firth, off the coast of Scotland. Formal consent has been granted for adjacent projects by Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd (MORL) and the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL) for a total of 326 wind turbines. The developments will be capable of generating up to 1,866MW of electricity. Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing said: “The Scottish Government is committed to thesuccessfulandsustainabledevelopment of an offshore wind sector, which could lead to a potential inward investment of £30 billion and support up to 28,000 direct jobs and a further 20,000 indirect jobs, generating up to £7.1 billion for the Scottish economy. As this industry develops, our enterprise agencies are working to secure supply chain development for Scotland. “The Scottish government wants to see the right developments in the right places, and Scottish planning policy is clear that the design and location of any onshore and offshore wind farm should reflect the scale and character of the landscape or seascape and should be considered environmentally acceptable.” Scottish wind farms get the go-ahead

Subsea cabling study

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) Ltd will share learning on the performance of subsea cabling in high energy environments to support the development of commercial wave and tidal energy sites. The project will see EMEC and Engineering Technology Applications Ltd (ETA) review existing data to assess the reliability of subsea cables installed in the harsh wave and tidal conditions at EMEC’s test sites at Billia Croo, on the west coast of Orkney, and the Fall of Warness, off the northern island of Eday. To date there has been little information published about how subsea cables survive and perform in high energy marine environments, and as commercial waveand tidal sites around theUKenter the initial planning phases, information on how subsea cables may perform in areas such as the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters (PFOW) will be vital to project developers and investors. The reportwill cover cablearmoring,marine growth, anthropogenic interactions, and cable movements, as well as performance of the cable, and will take factors such as seabed type, current speed, wave loadings, cable usage, cable type, and installation methods into consideration.

EUROPE NEWS

wiredInUSA - April 2014

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