Meygen Marine Tidal Power Environmental Impact Assessment Moves Forward

 Sponsor and developer of the world’s largest marine tidal power project announced to date, Meygen’s contracted Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime (KM) to carry out underwater noise studies for its 400-MW project in Scotland’s Pentland Firth. KM will measure and monitor noise levels from prototype Meygen tidal turbines at a European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) site to assess their effect on marine life before they are approved for installation at the project site.

KM’s also helping MeyGen monitor progress of turbine suppliers’ trials at EMEC in Orkney. “The results of the underwater noise impact studies being carried out by Kongsberg Maritime at Emec will affect how the devices are positioned on the seabed [at the MeyGen project site] to deliver optimum power while having minimal impact on marine life,” Recharge News quoted KM’s general manager for offshore, David Shand.
“Crown Jewel” of Scotland’s Marine Tidal Resource Base

MeyGen is aiming to install marine tidal turbines at depths between 20-40 meters over a 3.5-square kilometer area of the Pentland Firth between Scotland’s northern coast and the island of Stroma, an area considered the “crown jewel” of Scotland’s rich marine tidal resource base. Currents there average 4 meters/second, according to Recharge News’ report.

A joint venture between investment bank Morgan Stanley, independent power company International Power and marine tidal technology provider Atlantis Resources, Meygen’s moving forward with plans to install a 20-MW pilot installation of marine tidal turbines from Atlantis Resources and Rolls-Royce-TGL (Tidal Generation Ltd.) at the Pentland Firth site. Overall project completion is slated for 2020.

The underwater noise studies are a big part of the Meygen project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) and consenting processes. The project’s EIA will span the entire project development process, spanning the environmental impacts of the marine tidal power generation array to the substation connections to the UK national electricity grid.

MeyGen’s produced an EIA scoping document as per Scottish regulations for Phase I of the project. The EIA scoping document is meant to ensure Meygen’s EIA process is comprehensive and conforms with Scottish environmental protection regulations.

In it, Meygen states it will “conduct a preliminary review of the environmental baseline and risks which require more detailed assessment and provide a framework for consultation and identify the relevant regulatory bodies and statutory and non-statutory stakeholders.”

Energia Hdroelectric: in search of less ecological impact

We analyze the main ecological impacts derivations of hydroelectric dams and solutions that promise to overcome these problems in the future.

One of the oldest forms of energy is hydroelectric. Its use has been documented for centuries and is one of the most common forms of renewable energy. So common is its implementation in this regard, for example in EE.UU., the renewable energy sector gets hydropower 49% of its total production.

To qualify for hydroelectric power, require large amounts of water that fall, so the pressure exerted by water triggers the operation of turbines which - in turn - produce electricity..

Hydroelectric energy It is especially suitable for those areas that have very large amounts of water availability. Today, it constitutes 21 per cent of renewable energy sources.

Conventional hydropower generation methods require the use of dams which act as reservoirs of water to move the turbines and generators.

While the force of the water gives us an alternative more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels, the dams are expensive to build and generate a significant impact on the environment.

Change the course of the rivers may involve diverting the water from which many people depend on for drinking, irrigation of crops, livestock, etc.

This also implies flood large tracts of land (with their fields, natural habitats and even villages). And of course they also pose a risk to the ecosystem and the survival of fish and other aquatic animals.

To show all these points only enough with some examples. In our blogs we have on previous occasions brought news about the issues surrounding the construction of you dams or reservoirs. One of them, who took a certain international significance is the from the Belo Monte damin Brazil, where local Aboriginal groups were in a legal battle trying to preserve its ecosystem and natural resources on which they depend for their livelihood.

And without going so far in search of our example, not too long ago I contábamos the controversy raised here same in Spain before the adoption of the construction of the Reservoir Biscarrués and complaints from environmentalists groups regarding its impact on vast areas of great ecological value, many of them belonging to the Natura 2000 network.

Having said all that, it is now time to know what are the alternatives proposed to these problems.

In view of the many dangers that large reservoirs of water intended for the hydropower can pose, there is one growing urgency to get the same energy, but without the construction of dams. Fortunately, this urgency has given rise to attractive concepts that could well point to the abandonment of the construction of dams in the future.

Of these new alternatives of Hydroelectric energy without dams I discussed in detail in our next article where we will see what are the most promising projects in search of a sustainable hydropower.