Scottish marine energy leaders to visit New Zealand

AWATEA Media release 1
For immediate release – Thursday 22 March 2012

Scottish marine energy leaders to visit New Zealand

Scotland is a world leader in marine energy as a result of widespread political support from local councils, regional and national governments, and several of its industry representatives will be in New Zealand next month to share their experiences.

The Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association’s annual conference opens in Wellington next month and Scottish industry representatives will be among at least 11 international visitors registered to attend.

The Executive Director of AWATEA, Dr John Huckerby, says that Scotland has much to pass on that will help New Zealand’s nascent industry.

“The Orkney Islands, for example, to the north of the Scottish mainland, have some of the world’s best tidal and wave energy resources, and there are plans to install over 1000 wave and tidal turbines there over the next decade. The European Marine Energy Centre on the Orkney Islands currently has 4 wave machines, 4 tidal turbines and 2 half-scale turbines in the water.
“Orkney now boasts a burgeoning support industry with several new purpose-built vessels and the development of port infrastructure in the world-renowned Scapa Flow and surrounding region,” he says.

“And at the heart of all this development is the world’s only accredited wave and tidal test centre for marine renewable energy, suitable for testing 19 devices simultaneously in some of the harshest sea conditions, while at the same time exporting power to the Scottish grid.”

“A testing centre is definitely an idea that we should explore further here. We also have some of the world’s best marine energy resources, and we will need this form of renewable energy sooner rather than later.”

The AWATEA conference will also showcase some of the active marine energy projects in New Zealand and Ph.D. research being undertaken here.

ENDS

Conference information attached ....
AWATEA's 6th Annual Conference and workshops will be held at Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington on Thursday and Friday 19 and 20 April 2012.
Conference theme:
"Blue Energy: from International Vision to Reality." This recognises the release of the IEA’s Ocean Energy Systems Implementing Agreement’s publication of its “International Vision for Ocean Energy”.
Day One (to be opened by the Mayor of Wellington, Hon. Celia Wade-Brown):
Presentations:
Keynote: Mr. Richard Morris, Commercial Director of the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.
Marine energy testing centres in the UK and in New Zealand
Environmental impacts
Remote sensing
Current NZ projects
Tidal resources and technologies
Grid connection issues for variable marine energy generation
Project developments in Scotland
Guidelines for developing a successful project.

Day Two (to be opened by Her Excellency Vicki Treadell, the British High Commissioner):
Workshops:
"Active NZ Projects and Research”: project presentations from Energy Pacifica, Tangaroa Energy, Wave Energy Technology - New Zealand, Chatham Islands Marine Energy and Parnell Community Leisure and reports from two NZ-based Ph.D. students working on marine energy issues.
"UK - NZ Marine Energy Mission", presentations from each of the ten or more UK visitors, who will be participating in the conference. Each UK visitor will make a presentation on their particular interests and expertise in marine energy.

Conference sponsors:
Foundation: The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, Meridian Energy Ltd
Supporting: GNS Science, NIWA, Argo Environmental and others.
More information:
Further details on the conference and workshops can be downloaded from the AWATEA website conference page:
http://www.awatea.org.nz/conference12/conference12.html

© Scoop Media