RSS News FeedA pioneering project to create a new marine energy test site has seen Falmouth Harbour Commissioners (FHC) shortlisted in the Best Business Innovation category for the Regen South West Green Energy Awards 2012.
FHC was nominated for the launch earlier this year of the FaB Test test site in Falmouth Bay. The site gives marine energy developers the chance to test devices in a pre-licensed and consented area of near shore environment that is easily accessible.
Regen SW’s Green Energy Awards celebrate renewable energy achievements in the South West of the UK, and aim to highlight examples of innovation and drive forward the sustainability agenda in the region.
An independent panel of judges will now review all the entries to the awards, before the winners in each of six categories are announced at an awards dinner to be held on November 20 in Bath.
Falmouth Harbour Master Captain Mark Sansom said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the 2012 Green Energy Awards, and it is fantastic to be recognised for all the hard work that has gone into making the FaB Test site a reality.
“With FaB Test now up and running, it will play an important role in maintaining the South West’s position as the leading UK region for marine renewables, as it allows essential technology testing to be carried out in sheltered waters, close to port.”
The project originated as a partnership between FHC, Wave Hub, the University of Exeter, A&P Group, Cornwall Marine Network and Mojo Maritime, the FaB Test site is centred about two miles south of St Anthony Head.
In April 2012, FaB Test welcomed the first wave device to be installed for testing. Fred Olsen’s BOLT “Lifesaver” wave energy converter is currently being tested at the site, before potentially being deployed at the grid connected Wave Hub site, off the Cornish Coast near Hayle.
For more information and industry enquiries about FaB Test please email info@fabtest.co.uk.
For more information about the Regen SW Green Energy Awards and the full shortlist, visit http://www.regensw.co.uk/events/regen-sw-events-/green-energy-awards
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Notes to Editors:
About FaB Test
FaB Test consists of a pre-consented two square kilometre area of sea between two and three kilometres offshore in Falmouth Bay offering a range of depth and seabed types in three berths. It will enable wave energy generation device developers to conduct sea trials of their devices and components in moderate seas with excellent access to nearby port infrastructure.
FaB Test’s pre-consented status aims to maximise deployment efficiencies and minimise costs to applicants and complements the grid-connected facilities at Wave Hub 10 nautical miles off the north coast of Cornwall.
FaB Test has been driven by a steering group made of Falmouth Harbour Commissioners (FHC), University of Exeter and Wave Hub, with input from the marine energy support industry in Cornwall including the A&P Group and Mojo Maritime. The management of the site will be undertaken by a partnership between FHC and the University of Exeter.
For more information please email info@fabtest.co.uk
Falmouth Harbour Commissioners
Falmouth Harbour, including the Carrick Roads, is reputed to be the third deepest natural harbour in the world. Falmouth Harbour Commissioners are a statutory port authority with responsibility for the Inner Harbour at Falmouth (excluding Falmouth Docks), the Penryn River up as far as Boyers Cellars, the southern part of the Carrick Roads and a large part of Falmouth Bay. As well as providing regulation of its Harbour Area the Commissioners provide small craft facilities for residents and visitors.
Falmouth Harbour Commissioners is a statutory port undertaking created by an act of parliament in 1870. It operates as a trust port and has a board of eight commissioners who act as trustees. Falmouth Harbour Commissioners are committed to operating the harbour in an open and accountable manner and welcome feedback from harbour users.
A&P Falmouth
A&P Group is one of the largest ship repair and conversion companies in the UK with an annual turnover of approximately £96 million. The company is 100 per cent privately owned, employs 600 people across the UK and uses a network of worldwide agents. Operating across three strategic yard sites and seven fully operational large scale dry-docks in the UK, A&P Group’s three yards are located in Hebburn on the river Tyne, on the River Tees near Middlesbrough and at the port of Falmouth on the south west coast, a natural deepwater harbour.
The Crown Estate
- The Crown Estate manages a highly diverse property business valued at more than £7 billion.
- We pay our surplus revenue (profit) to the Treasury for the benefit of the nation every year: in 2010/11 this was £230.9 million. Over the past ten years The Crown Estate has paid nearly £2 billion to the Treasury.
- Our objectives, which are laid down by Parliament under the Crown Estate Act 1961, include enhancing the value of the estate and the revenue it produces.
- The responsibilities of The Crown Estate are to maintain and enhance the value of the estate and its income over the long term and to do this having regard to good management. In summary, The Crown Estate is a successful business organisation guided by our core values – commercialism, integrity and stewardship.
- The Crown Estate manages a diverse property portfolio which includes office, retail and industrial premises; housing; farmland; forestry and minerals; parkland; and around half the foreshore and almost all the seabed around the UK.
- The Crown Estate’s property comprises four estates: Urban, Marine, Rural and Windsor.
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter and University College Falmouth are founding partners in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique collaboration between six universities and colleges to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.
The University of Exeter is a leading UK university and in the top one percent of institutions globally. It combines world class research with very high levels of student satisfaction. Exeter is ranked 10th in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2012 and 11th in the Guardian University Guide 2012. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 90% of the University’s research was rated as being at internationally recognised levels and 16 of its 31 subjects are ranked in the top 10, with 27 subjects ranked in the top 20.
The University has over 17,000 students at three campuses. The Streatham and St Luke’s campuses are in Exeter and the Cornwall Campus (known locally as Tremough) is near Penryn. In an arrangement that is unique in the UK, the Cornwall Campus is owned and jointly managed as the Tremough Campus with University College Falmouth. At the campus, University of Exeter students can study programmes in Geology, Mining and Minerals Engineering, Renewable Energy, English, History, Biosciences, Geography and Politics.
The University of Exeter is currently developing its campuses in Exeter and Cornwall with almost £350 million worth of new facilities due for completion by 2012.
About Wave Hub
Wave Hub consists of a giant ‘socket’ on the seabed connected to the national grid on shore by an underwater cable, into which wave energy devices can be ‘plugged’ and tested on a scale not seen anywhere before. The project has four berths available and a capacity of 20MW, with potential to upgrade to 50MW in the future.
Wave Hub is publicly-owned by the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) which has set up a stand-alone operating company, Wave Hub Limited, based in Hayle, Cornwall to manage the day-to-day operation of the testing facility on its behalf.
Wave Hub is a £30 million infrastructure project funded by the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme and UK Government.
For further information, contact:
Jason Clark
Deborah Clark Associates
01208 77900