The Skerries Tidal Stream Array

Environmental Statement

Volume 1: Non Technical Summary

SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd

The Skerries Tidal Stream Array

Environmental Statement

Volume 1: Non Technical Summary

Prepared by Project Management Support Services Ltd on behalf of SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd

28229 SeaGen Wales Environmental Statement SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd

Preface

This Non Technical Summary has been prepared by Project Management Support Services (PMSS), on behalf of SeaGeneration (Wales) Limited, in support of an application for statutory consents for the Skerries Tidal Stream Array (Project).

A partnership of Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT) and npower Renewables (nrl) has been formed to develop the Project and is represented by SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd. The Project is supported by the European Union through the Welsh Assembly Government under Objective 1 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The proposed array of tidal energy devices will be located 850m (at its closest point) from the coast of Carmel Head in Anglesey, Wales. The associated landfall for the onshore works would be located either between Carmel Head and the western boundary of Hen Borth Bay or within Hen Borth Bay itself.

The Regulatory authorities responsible for assessing the application for consent for the Project are the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) and the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC). They will be supported in the assessment process by a number of environmental bodies including the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW).

Further information can be obtained by contacting:

SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd. The Court The Green Stoke Gifford Bristol BS34 8PD Email: [email protected]

A copy of the Environmental Statement explaining the proposals in more detail and presenting an assessment of the environmental impacts is available for inspection at Holyhead Public Library

Holyhead Library Newry Fields Holyhead Gwynedd LL65 1LA Tel: 01407 762917

Copies of the Environment Statement may be purchased from SeaGeneration Wales Ltd either on CD for a charge of £15, or in hardcopy form for £200.

Further information about the project can also be seen on the website: www.seagenwales.co.uk

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This document has been managed and prepared by PMSS in accordance with their ISO 9001 (2000) quality management standard.

Responsible for Job Title Name Date Signature

Content Director David Bean 2011-02-25

Checked Director of Technical Services Nick Flemming 2011-02-28

Approval Director David Bean 2011-0301

Signatures in this approval box have checked this document in line with the requirements of PMSS QP16. It should be noted that this report has been prepared by PMSS with significant input from external sub-consultants. QA has only taken place in respect of those chapters written by PMSS. Those chapters authored by external sub-consultants have been authorised for issue by the client, PMSS is not responsible for their content.

This report has been prepared by PMSS with all reasonable skill and care, within the terms of the contract with the Client. Whilst, every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the material published, neither SeaGeneration Wales Limited nor PMSS will be liable for any inaccuracies.

These documents have been prepared by, and remain the sole property of, SeaGeneration Wales Limited. They are submitted to the Regulators and Local Authorities solely for their use in evaluating the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Skerries Tidal Stream Array. No part of this publication (hardcopy or CD-ROM) or any attachments, addenda and/or technical reports may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means or otherwise disclosed to third parties without the express written permission of SeaGeneration Wales Limited, except that permission is hereby granted to the Regulators to evaluate this Environmental Statement in accordance with their normal procedures, which may necessitate the reproduction of this response to provide additional copies strictly for internal use.

The licence numbers for proprietary data referenced in diagrams and maps can be found on individual figures.

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Contents The Skerries Tidal Stream Array - Non-Technical Summary 1 Introduction 1 The Need for the Project 1 The Proposed Skerries Tidal Stream Array 3 Statutory Consents 4 Consultations 4 Environmental Impact Assessment 5 Physical Environment 5 Biological Environment 5 Human Environment 5 Concluding Statement 6

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Abbreviations

CCW Countryside Council for Wales IALA International Association of Marine SeaGen SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd DECC Department for Energy & Climate Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Wales Change Authorities SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest EIA Environmental Impact Assessment MCT Marine Current Turbines Ltd WAG Welsh Assembly Government EU European Union PMSS Project Management Support Services Ltd FEPA Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 RWE nrl RWE npower renewables

List of Figures (Within Chapter)

Figure 1 Project Location Figure 2 Representation of the SeaGen Device

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The Skerries Tidal Stream Array - Non-Technical Summary

Introduction

SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd (SeaGen Wales), a partnership of Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT) and RWE npower Renewables (RWE nrl), is submitting an application for the offshore consents necessary to construct and operate a 10 megawatt (MW) rated capacity demonstration array of tidal stream turbines. The Skerries Tidal Stream Array, hereafter referred to as the Project, is to be situated 850m off the north coast of Anglesey in a tidal race area known as the Skerries, the exact location is shown in Figure 1. The Project is supported by the Welsh European Funding Office acting as the body responsible for implementing the Structural Funds on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government.

Up to nine tidal stream turbines will be installed in an area of up to 0.56km2, and operated as a demonstration project. SeaGen Wales will seek a demonstration lease from The Crown Estate to operate the Project for a period of 25 years. The application considers the impacts of the Project over the duration of its operational life span.

If successful in attaining the required consents and securing the required funds for construction, the Project would be one of the first arrays of tidal turbines in the world, and represents an important development step for tidal stream technology in terms of project scale. The Project will have an additional effect of encouraging the development of a robust supply chain to support the emerging and growing marine renewable industry in Wales and on a wider UK scale. The Project is an important step in the transition from a demonstrator technology to full scale commercial project.

The Environmental Statement (ES) presents the findings of the detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that has been carried out for the Project. The assessment work has covered all of the potential impacts of the Project on the surrounding environment and has been carried out by a team of leading environmental specialists.

Planning permission for the onshore aspects of the development will be sought at a later date from the Isle of Anglesey County Council and therefore the outline details only of these aspects are included within the Environmental Statement.

The Need for the Project

The UK Government is committed to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, and under the Climate Change Act 2008 has agreed to achieve an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. One potential contributor towards achievement of this target is to reduce the UK dependence on fossil fuels, especially those used for electricity generation. In order to deliver this reduction an increase in renewable energy production is required. Marine energy projects such as the proposed Project can play a part in achieving this target.

Tidal power is a renewable source of energy that can be harnessed to generate electricity in a way that does not produce emissions of greenhouse gases and is not dependent on finite reserves of fossil fuels. It is inherently sustainable and the development and deployment of tidal power generation is recognised as part of the UK’s renewable energy strategy in helping to achieve this rapid transition and meeting the UK’s long term carbon reduction targets.

“. . . much of this [renewable energy] will be from wind power, on and offshore, but biomass, hydro and wave and tidal will also play an important role.”

UK Renewable Energy Strategy, 2009.

From a Welsh perspective, the development of marine renewables is a key objective. This objective is outlined in Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) Energy Policy statement, which sets a target of capturing 10% of the tidal stream and wave energy off the Welsh coast by 2025, and the promotion of Wales as a UK low carbon economic area for tidal energy (WAG 2010). The proposed Project is a possible step in meeting both of these targets.

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The Proposed Skerries Tidal Stream Array

A representation of the SeaGen device is shown in Figure 2. The Project will include the following elements: • Up to 9 twin rotor “SeaGen devices” with an output of 1.0 – 2.0MW. • Inter-array cabling. • A single 33kV subsea export cable. • Cable protection where necessary.

The SeaGen device to be used in the Project is similar to that installed by MCT in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland in 2008 although the colour of the devices is likely to be yellow, in accordance with International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) standards. The device is a twin rotor marine current energy converter with a maximum capacity of 2000kW (2.0 MW) which can be rated according to environmental and technical constraints to between 1.1 and 2.0MW. The precise capacity of the SeaGen devices will only be determined after project consent but the overall Project capacity will not exceed 10MW.

Figure 2: Representation of the SeaGen device

The export cable route will be finalised following an assessment of all technical and economic aspects following grant of main consents. Two possible cable corridors, 500m in width, have been identified and assessed. Cable Route option 1 is the shortest distance and would come ashore between Carmel Head and the western boundary of Hen Borth Bay, and Cable Route option 2 runs eastward from the proposed Array Area and would come ashore within Hen Borth Bay.

If consented, the Project is likely to be constructed over a 6 month period towards the end of 2014. The Project would then be available to generate electricity for commercial customers and is likely to have an operational life of 25 years.

During normal operation of the SeaGen device, the turbine blades will rotate up to a maximum of 14.3 revolutions per minute. The rotor tip speed is limited to a maximum of 12m/s irrespective of rotor diameter, so if larger rotor diameters are used the rotational speed will be reduced accordingly. The only other movement of the blades will be the raising and lowering of the turbines for inspection and maintenance. 3 28229 SeaGen Wales Environmental Statement SeaGeneration (Wales) Ltd

SeaGen Wales intends to apply for operational safety zones around each SeaGen device. The purpose of the safety zones is to minimise navigational risk to other sea users and damage to the SeaGen devices. A safety zone of 50m around the tower of each SeaGen device is proposed.

The Project will be serviced and maintained throughout its operational lifetime, from a local port, utilising local services where appropriate. At the end of its life, the project assets will be decommissioned following discussion between SeaGen Wales, The Crown Estate, WAG, DECC and statutory consultees. It is anticipated that decommissioning will take a similar period of time to construction.

Statutory Consents

The consenting regime for pre-commercial marine renewable energy generation devices in English and Welsh territorial waters is outlined in guidance produced by the DTI during October 2007 (DTI 2007).

A licence for the placement of articles, materials and structures in the sea or for the deposit of marine dredging in the sea or on/under the seabed is required under Section 5 of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (FEPA) Part II. FEPA applies to deposits made in UK territorial waters and on the UK continental shelf.

Consent for the Project under Section 34 of the Coast Protection Act 1949 is required to ensure that works do not endanger the safety of navigation.

Permissions are granted in Wales by the Marine Consents Unit of the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG).

Under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, consent in England and Wales is also required from the Secretary of State to construct, extend or operate a generating station with a capacity of more than 50 MW, unless otherwise exempted. The requirement was extended on 1 December 2001 by means of a Statutory Order (SI 2001/3642) to cover all offshore wind and water driven developments of above 1 MW capacity in UK territorial waters around England and Wales. A proposal under a Section 36 application may also include deemed planning permission for associated onshore works such as an electrical substation. However, SeaGen Wales have confined the Section 36 application to the offshore works below Mean Low Water (MLW), and will apply separately to the Isle of Anglesey County Council for planning permission for the onshore works above MLW.

A more complete description of the consenting regime and associated legislation and guidance is presented in the main text of the Environmental Statement.

Consultations

Communication and consultation is a key element of the EIA process. It allows stakeholders and the public to be fully informed and engaged in the evolution of the development proposal. This process also ensures that any concerns relating to the Project or ideas on how it should progress are considered.

SeaGen Wales has sought to engage proactively with stakeholders at local, regional and national level in a wide range of interests, and using a variety of media as follows: • Direct consultation meetings • Consultations with the fishing industry via an experienced Fisheries Liaison Officer • Public exhibition • Project briefing sheets • Magazine / newspaper articles • TV & radio interviews • Internet webpage

SeaGen Wales is committed to detailed consultation as part of the ongoing development, construction and operation of the project.

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Environmental Impact Assessment

A full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required in order to achieve the licences and permissions outlined above. The findings of the EIA carried out for the Project are presented in the Environmental Statement (ES) which accompanies the consent application.

The EIA has assessed the “realistic worst case” within clearly defined parameters that will govern or define the full range of development possibilities and has considered the most onerous environmental scenarios for every aspect of the Project. This process defines clearly the potential boundaries of the Project and describes the maximum possible impact.

Physical Environment

The assessment of hydrodynamic and sediment processes has indicated that the Project will only have an effect on currents, waves and sediment distribution over an area of about 100m. The cables and cable landfall will affect surface sediment processes over a narrow corridor of no more than 50m due to trenching and placement of protection. Suspended sediment due to cable trenching and pile installation will be dispersed rapidly over a wide area. The impacts of the Project on the adjacent shoreline are considered to be negligible as long as the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Hen Borth is avoided. There are no cumulative impacts with other existing or proposed developments.

Biological Environment

The EIA concludes that no significant adverse impacts are likely to arise on sites of nature conservation designated under international and national statute including Local Nature Reserves and Natura 2000 sites.

Impacts on benthic ecology due to removal or disturbance of benthic habitat, chemical spills/leaks, suspended sediments etc are assessed as not significant and impacts on birds due to either disturbance or loss of habitat, is considered minor.

The EIA has focussed particularly on the potential impacts of the Project on marine mammals such as seals and dolphins. The potential impacts during the construction of the Project have been assessed as low or negligible as long as appropriate mitigation is used, such as avoiding seal haul out sites and avoiding breeding seasons for the onshore construction.

With regard to the operation of the Project there are currently gaps in the understanding of the interaction between marine mammals and operational tidal turbines, and the potential for turbine arrays to act as a barrier to the normal movement of some species. A SeaGen device similar to that proposed for this Project has been installed in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland since 2008 and has been subject to an intensive monitoring programme which has focussed on the potential impact on marine mammals. Much of the evidence that has come of out of the Strangford Lough monitoring programme suggests that the impacts of the device during operation are minimal and the risk of collision is low.

There are still some unknowns with regard to the potential impact of a tidal array project. Therefore a risk based monitoring programme has been proposed for this Project whereby appropriate mitigation will be implemented if the risk of collision during operation of the Project is considered to be too high. This is referred to as a Deploy, Monitor and Mitigate approach and is widely used where there are unknowns as to the potential impact of a project. The system put in place by SeaGen Wales will be fully agreed and approved by the Regulator prior to construction and will be continually monitored by the Regulator until there is enough evidence to show that the risks are acceptable.

Human Environment

The proposed development will result in the introduction of a new and distinctive element off the coastline of Anglesey. It is acknowledged that the setting of the proposed development is sensitive and of high value. However, the character of the landscape combined with the scale and nature of proposed development means that it is predicted that it will not have a significant adverse impact on landscape character or the associated designations. Some adverse visual impacts are predicted, but these are only in relation to the closest viewpoints to the Project and as the separation distance increases, the impact reduces. It should also be acknowledged that the Project will represent a unique feature along the Welsh coastline. In addition the current awareness of issues around energy generation and environmental issues means the device could form an attraction for visitors in its own right.

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The Project is likely to have some impact on commercial fisheries through displacement of activity and impact of additional vessel traffic associated with the Project. However, any impacts will be mitigated by establishing good links with the local fishing community to minimise interference with fishing activity, establishing procedures for addressing adverse effects if they arise and minimising the area of displacement during construction and decommissioning.

A navigation risk assessment has been undertaken in accordance with the guidance requirements of the Marine Guidance Note 371 (M+F) issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Large commercial vessels do not navigate between the Anglesey coast and The Skerries rocks due to its narrow waters, strong tidal flows and rocky outcrops, and the main commercial vessel traffic flows are a significant distance from the Array Area. The few vessels that do pass through the passage are fishing vessels and recreational craft with a further possibility of patrol vessels on very infrequent occasions. The Navigation Risk Assessment has concluded that the impact of the Project, together with suitable mitigation measures, will be as low as reasonably practicable for a project of this type.

The EIA has assessed the risk of damage or destruction of known and potential sites of archaeological interest to be low as long as appropriate mitigation measures are used. This is standard practice for this type of offshore project.

In general the development of the Project is not expected to have any significant long term impacts on tourism, marine recreation and amenity although temporary or localised disruption or displacement of marine based activities in the vicinity of the Project Site may occur. The SeaGen device in Strangford Lough is now considered to be a tourist attraction in its own right and there is the potential that a tidal turbine array could provide a similar attraction in Anglesey, thereby helping to raise the profile of Anglesey as an ‘Energy Island’ and contribute to the tourism economy. The Project is also predicted to have a positive impact on the socio-economics of the area by creating a number of jobs during construction and operation, and increasing capital expenditure within the area.

Further information on the assessment of environmental impacts is presented in the main text of the Environmental Statement.

Concluding Statement

The EIA has been carried out by SeaGen Wales in accordance with EU and UK regulations and has robustly assessed the potential environmental impacts of the proposed Project.

The EIA has assessed the worst-case scenario that would have the greatest effect on the environment. This approach results in a maximum impact assessment, giving security and confidence to the regulatory bodies that the environmental impact will be no greater than that which is set out in this document and may in fact be considerably less.

If successful in attaining the required consents and securing the required funds for construction, the Project is likely to be one of the world’s first arrays of tidal turbines, and represents an important development step for tidal stream technology in terms of project scale. From a Welsh perspective, the development of marine renewables is a key objective, and development of the Project is an important step in the transition from demonstrator technology to full scale commercial project.

6 28229 SeaGen Wales Environmental Statement The Skerries Tidal Stream Array Environmental Statement Volume 1: Non Technical Summary www.seagenwales.co.uk