Foreshore Licence at Achill Island

Oldtree

Saw an application for a foreshore licence by ESB Energy International in the Mayo News this week for the deployment of wave emergy converters, ref MS51/13/422. Anybody know anything about where exactly its going to happen?

tonymayo

ESBI are collaborating with WestWave to develop a wave energy project off Achill.
See here

yop

Whats the thoughts on this, have never seen them either on TV or in the flesh, will it be a big ugly thing on the sea and will it actually reduce our prices?

Oldtree

I understand that this is a investigative licence only. If a suitable site is found another licence will have to be applied for to proceed. See here for the kind of machinery that will be put out in the sea.

http://www.westwave.ie/

I also understand that the application will be on the above website from next friday. I would assume that the machines will have to be bigger and densly placed to be commercially viable.

Unfortunatly this area is an SAC with annex I issues, see here

http://www.npws.ie/en/SAC/002268/

with the scenic views protected under the county development plan, see maps in appendix XII (at the bottom of this page)

http://www.mayococo.ie/en/Planning/DevelopmentPlansandLocalAreaPlans/MayoCountyDevelopmentPlan2008-2014/

I'm all for energy development in the right place, but not at a cost to (in my opinion) one of the few viable industries left in Mayo, the tourist industry.

I also wonder about the impact and cost of infastructure needed to support this type of development too?

biko

Wave energy is a good way to make energy. I don't know about these guys but there are solutions that you can put beneath the surface. That could be a totally different energy solution mind.

Mountjoy Mugger

Any indication as to how close to the island these structures will be?

Oldtree

I like most of the innovative designs and ideas that have come about for renewables, but we are already paying to subsidise the grants for the startup of renewable development through the levy on our ESB bill and without grant aid to support the industry I suspect that these developments will end up as white elephants with the taxpayer left to clean up the mess afterwards.

A common comment I hear is that the production of renewable energy is it is free after startup costs, what about maintainance and upgrading/replacement costs

Kristopherus

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

Any indication as to how close to the island these structures will be?

AFAIK these turbines are well under water. What is on land is another matter.

irishgeo

Kristopherus wrote: »

AFAIK these turbines are well under water. What is on land is another matter.

your going to need a coast line located substation and pretty a high Kwh transmission line (pylons) . Achill has neither.

themadchef

Isint it going to be up around Dooega?

That's prime Atlantic drive territory. Can't see much in the way of power plants being allowed up there.

Oldtree

See here for the latest update :

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12340:wave-energy-research-project-proposed-for-achill&catid=23:news&Itemid=46

Dosn't appear to be any info here as has been the norm in the past :rolleyes::

http://www.environ.ie/en/Foreshore/

Then for a sobering view on renewables see this weeks New Scientist article here:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028063.300-wind-and-wave-energies-are-not-renewable-after-all.html?full=true

irishgeo

themadchef wrote: »

Isint it going to be up around Dooega?

That's prime Atlantic drive territory. Can't see much in the way of power plants being allowed up there.

they get might away with one for testing as this application is, but i cant see them getting a whole fleet of them in. Unless they are a good bit out to sea.

that area scenic views are protected in the latest county development plan.

Oldtree

Foreshore application now available to download here:

http://www.westwave.ie/location/

Comments to the Foreshore Unit within 21 days from the public notice on the 29th March 2011.

irishgeo

Oldtree wrote: »

Foreshore application now available to download here:

http://www.westwave.ie/location/

Comments to the Foreshore Unit within 21 days from the public notice on the 29th March 2011.

i just get a wordpress login page?

Oldtree

They've changed it again since yday where only the application form with no maps was available, only after they got name and email address. It is available to download as pdf files now (to the right of this page) if you register. They are not making it easy to find out the information and want to know who has an interest, makes me wonder what they are trying to hide????!!!!

http://www.westwave.ie/location/

So below are attached the documents: Application and Maps

Co-Mayo-Foreshore-Licence-Application.pdf
Co-Mayo-Foreshore-Licence-Application-Admiralty-Chart.pdf

In accordance with the wishes of James Tedd, Project Manager, ESBI Ocean Energy direct links to the documents have been removed. Names of the documents will remain soo you can look for them on the website /moderator.

irishgeo

Oldtree wrote: »

They've changed it again since yday where only the application form with no maps was available, only after they got name and email address. It is available to download as pdf files now (to the right of this page) if you register. They are not making it easy to find out the information and want to know who has an interest, makes me wonder what they are trying to hide????!!!!

http://www.westwave.ie/location/

So below are attached the documents: Application and Maps

the position is off the scenic Atlantic drive, anyone know what ADCP stands for?

Oldtree

acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP)
(frequency-height spectra, directional spectra and computed parameters including significant height, peak period and peak direction.)

Oldtree

Scenic views and surrounded by SAC's!
NPW SAC map.pdf
Dev Plan protected views.pdf


In accordance with the wishes of James Tedd, Project Manager, ESBI Ocean Energy direct links to the documents have been removed. Names of the documents will remain so you can look for them on the website /moderator.

irishgeo

ill be able to see it from my parents house window at the weekend.

the home house looks right out over the exact spot of ocean they are going to put it. we do get some mighty storms and a regular supply of waves though.

i dont mind the survey but if they want to go full scale thats a different matter.

Oldtree

I do not think that they would be wasting money on a trial unless they were fairly confident of continuing afterwards with a commercial venture. Forewarned is forearmed!

irishgeo

Oldtree wrote: »

I do not think that they would be wasting money on a trial unless they were fairly confident of continuing afterwards with a commercial venture. Forewarned is forearmed!

but they have to reapply again if the go ahead. i not that bothered to be honest. it might bring some jobs to achill

Oldtree

Moderator I recieved the following emails today and do not wish to cause any undue problems for boards.ie:

Sent: Mon, 18 Apr, 2011 11:36
From : James Tedd

Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your interest in the WestWave project, We have added your
details for updates on the project.
In order that we may best provide information on this project, please
would you be you provide a few details below:
Name:
Address:
Company:
Email address:
Area of Interest:
Any Comments:
Best Regards
James Tedd
Project Manager
ESBI Ocean Energy
ESB International, 18-21 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Web: www.esbi.ie

Sent: Tue, 19 Apr, 2011 16:34
From : James Tedd
Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you very much for your interest in the WestWave project. It is great to see how much interest the project has generated, and I am glad to see from your notes on Boards.ie that you are well informed on the details of the project. I am also very pleased that you were able to download the foreshore licence documents from the project website. At the request of the Department of the Environment we have agreed to go beyond the statutory requirement to display the documents in the nearest 24hr Garda Station (Westport for the Achill location) and have made them available in the Achill Sound Garda Station as well as on the website.

I note that you have posted the foreshore licence documents to the boards.ie website. As these are documents of a detailed technical nature they do not sit well on an informal site such as boards.ie. Without the supporting information on the whole project this does not stand well and could cause confusion for the reader. I therefore kindly ask you to take them down from this site. This will allow the interested reader may download them from their appropriate location at the project website, where there is further info on the project together with the opportunity to directly contact the project with any further queries they may have.

I greatly appreciate your co-operation on this. If you have any further questions or comments you would like to ask regarding the project, I would be pleased to answer them.

Kind regards,

James

James Tedd
Project Manager
ESBI Ocean Energy
ESB International, 18-21 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Web: www.esbi.ie

Oldtree

The ESB International application for a foreshore licence for surveys for wave measurement and seabed bathymetry has been secured the licence to allow the works to progress.

ESB Quote "These surveys are the first steps in the development of a project to develop Ireland’s first wave energy farm, the WestWave project. If the surveys show the area to be suitable, the project is able to gain all required permits and it is financially viable ESB International intend to develop a 5 MW wave energy power station."