Crown Estate Scotland will seek input from tidal and wave developers this month as it considers how to structure future leasing opportunities.
The seabed manager said Wednesday it would to work with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult to carry out an “in-depth survey” of the sector.
The survey will solicit views and ideas from developers across the sector working on the next generation of wave and tidal technologies – information which CES says will support its decision on future leasing rounds.
The process will assess the appetite amongst developers for these future leasing opportunities, as well as seeking updates on projects currently in developments and their development plans and schedules.
CES said it would also gather views on how improvements could be made to enable development of the wider tidal and wave sectors.
Since 2017, leases for tidal stream and wave energy projects of up to 30MW are currently awarded on an ad-hoc basis, with each considered on individual merit against the evaluation criteria.
The sector secured ringfenced funding within the fourth round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme in late 2021 after much lobbying from industry and politicians.
However these “significant developments”, coupled with stated support for wave and tidal energy in the Scottish Government Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, is pushing CES to consider how to manage future processes.
As strike prices alone become an increasingly contentious metric for assessing bids, the sector recently made the case for deployment targets within future rounds to further support a buildout of wave and tidal resources.
Long-term sustainability is important; while the sector has produced world-leading successes, it has also seen its fair share of failures.
Meanwhile a recent study by the University of Edinburgh found that the UK could avoid spending billions of pounds on the industry if the Government were to work more closely with European neighbours.
Commenting on the survey launch, Crown Estate Scotland development manager Caitlin Byers said: “With some of the best tidal and wave energy resources in Europe, Scotland has a key role to play in leading the development and deployment of these critical forms of renewable energy.
“This survey will provide Crown Estate Scotland with insights from developers on their future project pipelines to inform our review of leasing activities. This will help us to ensure the leasing opportunities we offer remain appropriate for both the tidal stream and wave energy sectors over the coming years.
“We look forward to hearing from developers across the sectors.”
The survey will be issued by ORE Catapult during August, with a summary of anonymised key findings to be published later in the year.
Developers interested in participating can contact Marine@crownestatescotland.com.
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