Ness of duncansby tidal array project public information days

[EnergyHunt]

NESS OF DUNCANSBY TIDAL ARRAY PROJECT

Public Information Day

ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) is proposing to develop a tidal array, off the coast of Duncansby Head in the Pentland Firth. The Tidal Array would consist of 95 tidal stream generating devices that would be fully submerged on the seabed.

They have begun the ‘scoping’ process by consulting with Marine Scotland and now wish to engage with local stakeholders and the community to gather opinions on the proposed project.

They will be holding Public Information Days to update the local community and to answer any questions.

The venue and times for the public information days:

The Seaview Hotel, John O’Groats
Wednesday 16th February, 3pm until 7.30pm

Caithness Horizons, Old Town Hall, Thurso
Thursday 17th February, 3pm until 7.30pm

[ywindythesecond]

What tidal monitoring equipment has been put in place to determine that the coast off Duncansbay Head is a suitable place for a tidal array?

[webmannie]

What tidal monitoring equipment has been put in place to determine that the coast off Duncansbay Head is a suitable place for a tidal array?

ywindy, clue in the title of the event, it's a Public Information day. Go along and ask?

[ywindythesecond]

ywindy, clue in the title of the event, it's a Public Information day. Go along and ask?
Good point Webmannie and I will go along. If it was a proposed windfarm then there would have been an anemometer mast around for a year or two first. My question was directed at Energy Hunt.

[orkneycadian]

For the record ywindy, when this gets underway, there will be periods, 4 times a day, during slack water when no energy will be being converted and fed into the national grid.

By clearing that up now, we might hopefully save the 4 graphs a day of "how little the Ness of Duncansby tidal array was producing at 3 am this morning"!

[ywindythesecond]

For the record ywindy, when this gets underway, there will be periods, 4 times a day, during slack water when no energy will be being converted and fed into the national grid.

By clearing that up now, we might hopefully save the 4 graphs a day of "how little the Ness of Duncansby tidal array was producing at 3 am this morning"!

Tidal power is predictable insofar as when it will be available, but not the amount of power which can be extracted at any time. A judgement (hopefully informed) has to be made about the likely generation from a "tidal array", hence my question to Energy Hunt.
This is my point. Let's say the 95 machines are capable of generating 95MW at full power but a conservative estimate is 40MW on average , which reduces to ZERO MW four times a day. Where does the electricity come from while the tide is turning?

[Metalattakk]

Where does the electricity come from while the tide is turning?

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/Metalattakk/f_doh.gif

Slack water here is not the same as slack water over there. A simple tide table will tell you that.

[webmannie]

EnergyHunt, couple of questions for you

Who will be there to query on the project?

Do you think it would be useful for High School/ UHI Students to pop in and find out what it's all about? (Strikes me that it would do them no harm to find out what opportunities lie ahead for them)

[EnergyHunt]

Hi Webmannie.

There will be ecologist/environmental specialists, some engineers (including myself) and planners. As a group we should be able to answer all questions and queries.

The recent generic Public Information Days held back in November proved very popular with bairns of all ages and especially older school kids and students. It was noted that the youth presence there was a big bonus to that event. So hopefully this can be repeated at this one.

With respect to opportunities, there are a few at present and our company is a good example of this having 4 staff working on this and similar projects along with a number of local sub contractors.

The projects will take a number of years to reach full capacity but these information days coincide with the environmental scoping exercise and detailed studies so this is in effect the start of the project in earnest.

Please come along, regardless of age, and learn about the projects, opportunities and how the technologies are being developed to work in these very harsh environments.

Cheers

EnergyHunt.




EnergyHunt, couple of questions for you

Who will be there to query on the project?

Do you think it would be useful for High School/ UHI Students to pop in and find out what it's all about? (Strikes me that it would do them no harm to find out what opportunities lie ahead for them)

[webmannie]

Thanks for the prompt response 'Mr Cheers' ;^)), I will certainly be attending to find out about this particular project. I do hope that older school kids and students go to one of the events. I overheard some of them at the 'generic' event you mentioned, i couldn't help being impressed with the well informed searching questions they asked.


Hi Webmannie.

There will be ecologist/environmental specialists, some engineers (including myself) and planners. As a group we should be able to answer all questions and queries.

The recent generic Public Information Days held back in November proved very popular with bairns of all ages and especially older school kids and students. It was noted that the youth presence there was a big bonus to that event. So hopefully this can be repeated at this one.

With respect to opportunities, there are a few at present and our company is a good example of this having 4 staff working on this and similar projects along with a number of local sub contractors.

The projects will take a number of years to reach full capacity but these information days coincide with the environmental scoping exercise and detailed studies so this is in effect the start of the project in earnest.

Please come along, regardless of age, and learn about the projects, opportunities and how the technologies are being developed to work in these very harsh environments.

Cheers

EnergyHunt.