Scoping study for tidal stream energy development in Scottish waters

Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Vol 3 No 1

The Scottish Government has set a range of challenging targets for energy and climate change. These recognise the potential to take advantage of the extensive marine energy resources (wind, wave and tidal power) available in Scottish waters and include meeting at least 30% of total energy demand from renewable sources by 2020, incorporating: o 100% of electricity demand from renewables (31% by 2011) o 11% of heat demand from renewables o 10% of transport fuel from renewables In addition, the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 sets statutory targets of at least 42% emissions cuts by 2020, and at least 80% by 2050. To assist in meeting these targets, the Scottish Government has adopted an iterative approach to marine planning for the renewable energy sectors. A Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in Scottish Territorial Waters (Blue Seas - Green Energy) sets out the Government's vision for developing offshore wind energy up to 2020 and beyond and has identified short term development sites for offshore wind up to 2020, with a potential to deliver almost five Gigawatts (GW) of electricity generation capacity. A new Scoping Study extends the potential development area out to 200 nm. A sensitivity analysis of the process used to develop the offshore wind Plan concluded that, as additional data and monitoring information and improved data handling procedures become available, these should be incorporated into the emerging iterative marine planning process.