EcoWatt2050

The EcoWatt2050 consortium was established through the auspices of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It was led by Heriot-Watt University, in partnership with the Universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Strathclyde, and the Highlands and Islands, Swansea University, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and Marine Scotland Science (MSS). EcoWatt2050 builds in direct participation from industry in various aspects of its work, and organized a number of wider knowledge exchange and stakeholder engagement activities during the project.

The research was specifically designed to respond to questions:

• How can marine planning be used to lay the foundation for the sustainable development of very large scale arrays of marine renewable energy devices?
• What criteria should be used to determine the ecological limits to marine renewable energy extraction, and what are the implications for very large scale array characteristics?
• How can we differentiate the effects of climate change from energy extraction on the marine ecosystem?
• Are there ways in which marine renewables development may ameliorate or exacerbate the predicted effects of climate change on marine ecosystems?

The overarching objective is thus to determine ways in which marine spatial planning and policy development, can enable the maximum level of marine energy extraction, while minimizing environmental impacts and ensuring that these meet the legal criteria established by European law. The key finding of the project was that overall impacts due to climate change for both the physical and ecological environment are an order of magnitude higher than for renewable energy arrays. The project summary booklet which provides an overview of all the research carried out is available for download from https://www.masts.ac.uk/media/36374/ecowatt2050-booklet.pdf

Figure: The MIKE 21 SW waves model of West Orkney developed during EcoWatt2050 to study the impact of large scale wave energy arrays. The wave energy attenuator and terminator type devices are shown.

The outputs from the Ecowatt2050 project are being collated and where possible are listed below under the data sources tab. We are in the process of adding these data sources, so watch this space...

Acknowledgements:

The EcoWatt2050 consortium gratefully acknowledges financial support for this work from the EPSRC Grand Challenge II award (EPSRC Grant Ref: EP/K012851/1) and contributions from MASTS.