SmartestEnergy, the UK’s leading purchaser and supplier of electricity from the independent generation sector, has signed a Power Purchase Agreement with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), for all of the power generated from the wave and tidal devices operating at its flagship test centre in the Orkney Islands.
The Orkney site operates a number of purpose built ‘berths’ into which marine and tidal developers can install their machines for full scale, grid connected operational testing. When full, these sites have a combined capacity of 11MW for export to SmartestEnergy. Since its inception in 2003, EMEC has attracted 12 device developers including Pelamis Wave Power, Aquamarine Power, OpenHydro and Tidal Generation Limited.
The Power Purchase Agreement with SmartestEnergy provides a direct line of income from power sales for these innovative energy entrepreneurs.
Iain Robertson, SmartestEnergy’s Business Development Manager for Scotland, said: “SmartestEnergy is proud to be helping support the development of these new, cutting edge technologies which have the potential to play a huge role in the UK’s energy supply mix. We hope this is the first of many marine-based energy projects in our generation portfolio.”
SmartestEnergy now has a portfolio of over 1700MW under management. Its entire portfolio comes from independent (non-utility) generators, with a majority of sites generating renewable electricity.
Neil Kermode, Managing Director of EMEC said: “We are very pleased to have signed this agreement with SmartestEnergy. It is very important that we get the best value for the technology innovators we work with. SmartestEnergy understands the needs of independent developers and generators so can offer the most compelling and flexible terms for business.”
“The Power Purchase Agreement is also crucial to show that marine energy is not just a concept or a distant dream, but a fully commercial reality which can play its part in generating industrial levels of power. We look forward to expanding our work and welcoming new technology developers to this world beating facility,” he added.
According to figures from Scottish Renewables, over 20GW of wave and tidal energy capacity could be produced in the waters around Scotland. Together they could provide up to 80 terrawatt hours (TW/h) of electricity per year, equivalent to one fifth of total UK consumption.
EMEC is at the global forefront of the development of this marine-based renewable energy. As the first centre of its kind to be created anywhere in the world, it offers developers the opportunity to test full scale grid connected prototype devices in unrivalled wave and tidal conditions.
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