Economic Development Group

NORTH  SEA  COMMISSION
Meeting of the Economic Development Group
Renewable Energy Subgroup

Study Tour and Introduction to renewable Energy in the East of England

Tuesday 4th November 2003

Study Trip to Beaumont Primary School, Hadleigh
The meeting started with a study tour of the new Beaumont Primary School.  This school opened in September 2003 and was built by Suffolk County Council as a showcase sustainable building project.

The project objective was to produce a building incorporating sustainable components in its design, with limited maintenance requirements and improved life cycle costs.  Materials were carefully chosen either for their low embodied energy or because they could be recycled. 

Sustainable features of the school included timber framed external wall construction, wall and roof insulation consisting of recycled newspaper, untreated western red cedar external cladding and partial roof covering with a living sedum blanket.

Renewable Energy features are also central in the design of the school – it has its own small scale wind turbine and photovoltaics for electricity generation, as well as solar panels for room and hot water heating.

Information provision and environmental education are also important parts of the project.    An electronic touch screen display shows how much energy is generated and used throughout the school. This is one of very few schools in the UK with this range of renewable energy features.

The group discussed the cost, and environmental and economic arguments for developing sustainable buildings.  The discussion also covered the difficulties experienced by new suppliers in the UK wishing to link in with the national grid infrastructure.

Business support for renewable energy developments 
Nick Fleming, Renewables East

The Group attended a presentation by Nick Fleming of Renewables East.  Renewables East (R-E) is the agency for renewable energy in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire in the East of England.  The agency operates as a not for profit organisation, and was formed by a wide range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors. 

The twin objectives of the organisation are:

• To enable the East of England to meet its adopted target for the production of energy from renewable resources, within the context of national energy policy and the need to move towards a lower carbon economy'.
  
  and
  
• To maximise the rate of growth of the renewable energy sector and the economic benefits to the region, especially through stimulating investment and job opportunities, supply chain development and innovation'.

Nick outlined the reasons for developing a regional perspective on the Renewable Energy sector.   R-E aims to encourage market opportunities for the renewable energy sector within their region.  By increasing public understanding of renewable energy, and supporting skills and awareness, R-E also aims to make the renewable energy sector a mainstream element of the local economy.

R-E participates in the work of the East of England Sustainable Development Framework.  It supports the offshore energy industry, raises awareness of the potential of renewable energy to attract more investment and encourages planning authorities to take a more positive attitude to local community renewable energy schemes.    

Renewable energy is seen to have a key role in enabling the East of England to meet its share of the national greenhouse gas emission targets.  R-E is working to help the region generate 14% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

It is intended that this 14% target will be included into future regional policy through the revision of Regional Planning Guidance Note 14 (RPG14). 

Nick outlined R-E's involvement in promoting offshore wind energy, bio-fuels and bio-mass projects, planning issues and developing the regional supply chain.  

For more information on Renewables East visit www.renewableseast.org.uk

The group discussed issues concerning:

• the need for partnership working
• difficulties with connections to the National Grid,
• the potential offered by new housing developments, 
• the need for outreach work with farmers   
• the need for long term thinking on renewable energy projects to encourage investment.
• how to agree targets (eg energy usage or production targets?).
• the use of terminology (eg "co-products" rather than "waste" or "by-products")
• the need to ensure diversity in bio-crops and to anticipate the impact on local landscapes

The group also discussed the opportunities offered by small community heat and power projects.

The group agreed that it would be useful to examine how other countries had successfully highlighted the benefits of renewable energy projects to local communities and encouraged greater local ownership.

NORTH  SEA  COMMISSION
Meeting of the Economic Development Group 
Renewable Energy Subgroup

Novotel, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Wednesday 5th November 2003

DRAFT  MINUTES,  CONCLUSIONS  AND  ACTIONS

Present

Jessica Algehed	Vastra Gotalands Regionen, Sweden
Megan Arnold	SLP Energy, England
Vivien Collie	North Sea Commission
Daniel Dobson-Mouawad (Chair)	Suffolk County Council, England
Dietman Gosck	RE Power Systems AG, Germany
Dr Matthias Huppauff-Jakober	Wirtschaftsforderungsgesellschaft Nordfriesland mbH, Germany
Louise Jordan-Hall	Waveney District Council, England
Roddy Matheson	Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland
Albert Moens	Provence North Holland, Netherlands
Michael Moll	Suffolk County Council, England
Julian Munson	Suffolk Development Agency, England
Cathy Reeve	Suffolk County Council, England
Bill Richmond	Your Energy Ltd, England
Eric Stewart	Angus Council, Scotland
Keith Tovey	Carbon Reduction Project, England
Steven Wood	Waveney District Council, England

Apologies:

Paul Kyle	Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland
Morag McCorkindale	Aberdeen City Council, Scotland
Caroline Privat	Regionalen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bremen/Niedersachsen, Germany
Alan Russell	Fife Council, Scotland

2.  Agreement of minutes
The minutes of the meeting of the Renewable Energy Subgroup held in Aberdeen, Scotland on Friday 23 May 2003 were agreed.

3.  Matters arising
The group discussed the proposed Renewable Energy Interreg application.  This project created a considerable amount of interest.   Unfortunately, it was felt that this interest was too diverse to be contained in a single Interreg funding application.  

4.  OSPAR Guidelines on Offshore Wind Farms
The group discussed the need for inclusion of a commercial perspective in the new OSPAR guidelines.  There was also a concern that the terminology used makes areas appear very limited for development.  There is also a need for more information about the benefits of wind farms (eg security of supply).  The precautionary approach in the draft guidelines also requires that developers must prove there will be no impact.  This can be very limiting, costly and difficult to achieve.

The group agreed that the new guidelines must include a business perspective.  Unnecessarily restrictive guidelines could make proposed developments too costly, unpredictable and unattractive for private sector participation.

The group agreed that there should be increased priority for use of the North Sea for offshore Wind Energy, and for its use as a renewable energy resource.

 The group agreed that an economic development perspective should be produced for inclusion in the formal NSC response to the OSPAR Guidelines.  This response will be agreed at the NSC Executive Committee meeting in March 2004.

Action:
Renewable Energy Group members to send their comments on the OSPAR Guidelines to the Group Co-ordinator by the end of November 2003.

5.  Renewable Energy Agencies and Business Development Issues:

• Supporting business development in wind energy
• The role of a Centre of Excellence for wind energy
• Benefits of international co-operation

Louise Jordan-Hall, Waveney District Council, Julian Munson, Suffolk Development Agency, and Megan Arnold, SLP Energy

Louise Jordan-Hall, Corporate Director (Regeneration), Waveney District Council (WDC) gave the group a profile of the area and the potential of the renewable energy sector (particularly wind energy).  (Copies of this presentation are available from the Group Co-ordinator).  Louise highlighted Waveney District Council's success in obtaining over £20m of external funding to regenerate Lowestoft and the market towns of the District.

Over a number of years Lowestoft has seen the decline of its major industries of fishing, ship building and more recently oil and gas.  The Waveney area, however, still has tourism, a strong food and electronics sector, and a robust energy sector providing unmanned gas platforms.  The area has, therefore, a unique opportunity to develop business activities in the emerging Renewable Energy sector.   The area offers a number of attractions for business including its location, port facilities, skills base (transferable from the oil and gas sectors) and financial assistance (both regional and European aid).

WDC has developed strategies to help provide direction and optimise opportunities in the area.  These have top level commitment from local politicians.  In addition, WDC works in partnership with other public and private sector organisations.  The Waveney Economic partnership aims to bring more inward investment, retain business, and encourage economic regeneration.  This partnership recognises the importance of the emerging wind energy sector, and has set up a specialist subgroup to ensure that business opportunities are exploited.

This joint working has recently been rewarded with the announcement that the proposed 'Centre of Excellence for Offshore Wind Energy' will be located in Lowestoft.    

The group then heard a presentation by Julian Munson, Inward Investment Manager, Suffolk Development Agency.  Julian outlined the role and links of the East of England Development Agency, Invest East of England, Trade Partners UK, the East of England Energy Group, Renewables East and the Suffolk Development Agency.  

Suffolk has identified seven distinct geographical areas - each with individual offers.   Waveney and district has been identified as an area for renewable energy opportunities.  The area is seen to have suitable supply chain opportunities, labour skills, property, port access, transport links, harbour depths and strong public sector support.

The business support organisations are aiming to develop their existing contacts in this field and introduce a targeted marketing campaign.  A statistical web database has also been developed (The Suffolk Observatory).  In addition, businesses can access web based land and property information and use a web-based enquiry handling system (Suffolk Solutions).

For more information on Suffolk County Council visit www.suffolkcc.gov.uk
For more information on Waveney District Council visit www.waveney.gov.uk
For more information on Suffolk Development Agency visit www.sda-suffolk.com 
For more information on Suffolk Solutions visit www.suffolksolutions.com
For more information on the Suffolk Observatory visit www.suffolkobservatory.info/
For more information on Invest East of England visit www.investeastofengland.com
For more information on the East of England Energy Group visit www.eeegr.com
For more information on the East of England Development Agency visit www.eeda.org.uk

The group then heard a presentation by Megan Arnold, Business Development Manager, SLP Energy on "An Offshore Wind Centre - a Focal Point for the Future" (copies of this presentation are available from the Group Co-ordinator).  Megan gave a brief history on Lowestoft, background information on SLP Engineering Ltd and highlighted the need to diversify into the renewable energy sector.  She also outlined the aims of the UK government's Energy White Paper, current UK targets and UK market mechanisms.  Megan then went into more detail on the international Offshore Wind Energy markets and site locations of proposed UK offshore wind farms.      

Megan then outlined the proposals for developing a high profile Offshore Wind Centre in Lowestoft.  It is intended that this Centre will bring together industry experts and supply chain companies under one roof.  It is proposed that the Centre will have an active work programme that seeks to address the key varies/market failures to development, namely:

• Supply chain development
• Financing and investor attraction
• Marketing and promotion
• Planning and grid connection issues

For more information on SLP Engineering Ltd visit www.slp-eng.com

6.  Public Awareness and Community Involvement

• Keith Tovey, Carbon Reduction Project, University of East Anglia
• Bill Richmond, Your Energy Ltd (wind farm developer).

The group heard a presentation by Keith Tovey from the Community Carbon Reduction Project ('CRed') based at the University of East Anglia.  Keith outlined the development of this project.  The UK Government recently stated its aspiration to cut CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050.  It is recognised, however, that achievement of this goal will require a considerable amount of work by local partnerships.  In Norfolk the CRed community was established.  This network of partnerships has the aim of reducing CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050, and demonstrating to the rest of the country how it can also meet this target. 

One of the first aims of the project was to educate people and encourage them to use energy more efficiently.  The campaign focussed on a variety of activities, from simple energy-saving tips to imaginative technical solutions.

In order to help get its message across, CRed helps partners work out how much CO2 they are producing.  In order to help people visualise the scale of the task CRed has translated its figures into the capacity of hot air balloons.  Eg:

"Each year, about nine tonnes of CO2 is released for every man, woman and child in the country - enough to fill the equivalent of five hot air balloons!  To make a 60% cut in emissions by 2025, each of us needs to lose the equivalent of three hot air balloons."

This campaign attracted local, national and international media coverage.

The campaign has looked into the problems of local resistance to change.  From its work on wind energy the campaign has established that local people need to:

• See what the wind turbines will look like in location (using virtual reality technology from key viewpoints).
• See the worst case scenario.
• See the equivalent savings that will be made (and the difficulty of achieving them).
• See how many people/homes will benefit from the renewable energy activities.

It was also important to ask the community what benefits it would like to receive from the project (eg reduced bills or additional income for the community).

The main objections tend to concern visual impacts.  Other objections include the impact of flicker, noise, property devaluation and other economic problems.  Attitudes often differ depending on how close people live to the windmills.  

It is important, therefore, to establish good communication links at an early stage with the local communities likely to be affected, and to learn from other areas.

Keith then gave a short talk on options and costs for future sources of energy for the UK.  It is predicted that the UK will become dependent on importing energy.  The country is located far from the other international sources of oil and gas, and this could lead to problems with security of supply.   

The UK needs:

• An integrated, diverse supply of renewable energy
• Improved technical applications for increased energy efficiency
• Increased education to make people more aware of the implications of their actions.

For more detailed information on the impacts of climate change and the CRed Project visit www.cred-uk.org or www2.env.uea.ac/cred/creduea.htm (a copy of Keith's presentation is also available on this website).   

The group then heard a presentation from Bill Richmond, Your Energy Ltd (wind farm developer).   Bill outlined the opportunities offered by wind farm developments, the need for political support, and the problems of changing public perception about these projects.

Your Energy Ltd aims to ensure the energy from its projects is used locally, makes a real contribution to minimising local energy bills and enhances the sustainability of each area.  Your Energy is in discussion with a number of potential partners in order to make sure that the electricity produced is available to local customers.  Initially they have prioritised business and commercial customers as, if these customers purchase their power from sustainable resources such as wind energy, they can avoid incurring the Climate Change Levy on their electricity bills.

Bill listed the wide variety of organisations that require to be consulted before any wind farm can be developed.  This can lead to only a small viable area being identified, development pressure, and often local resistance.

Bill advised that it is important to consult early and consult often.  Developers and objectors should have the opportunity for mediation if there is an objection.  This is often quicker, and allows for the sharing of technical skills.

Bill also recommended involving the local community in the project, and highlighting the possible benefits.  It is also important to realise that every application is unique - and so are the community benefits.

For more information about Your Energy Ltd visit www.your-energy.ltd.uk

7.  Future activities of the Group
The group agreed that it had been very beneficial to involve participants from the private sector in the meeting. It was agreed that members from the North Sea Commission should be encouraged to invite key business representatives involved in renewable energy to take part in future meetings of the group.  This would ensure increased networking and benefits to the group participants.

The group agreed that the next meeting should be held in Sweden and would be on the theme of bio-fuels and bio-mass.

The group has also been invited to attend the 'All Energy' conference in Aberdeen, Scotland on the 25th of May 2004, then the 'New Energy Husum' exhibition and conference in Germany in October 2004 (07-10.10.04).

Action:

Group members are encouraged to invite key business representatives involved in the renewable energy to take part in future meetings of the group. 

Future Meetings:
04-05 February 2004 in Gothenburg, Sweden
25 May 2004 in Aberdeen, Scotland
07-10 October 2004 in Husum, Germany