THE government is establishing a ministerial working group to explore opportunities for marine renewable projects, according to the Environment Minister.
Deputy Jonathan Renouf said the move would allow them to ‘work more collaboratively across the Channel Islands’ on the development of tidal and wind energy sites, which forms part of the government’s Carbon Neutral Roadmap.
The roadmap estimates that work would begin on an offshore wind farm system between 2030 and 2040, and that from 2040 to 2050, 50% of Jersey’s electricity would come from renewable energy generated in the Island’s territory.
Deputy Renouf said the new group would ‘consider the competing priorities in the marine environment and prioritise areas for conservation, as well as balancing where offshore wind might be most appropriately sited’.
He added: ‘We are now coming to the end of our first set of consultations with stakeholders for Jersey’s first Marine Spatial Plan, which will set out how the marine environment can be best used and protected.
‘Jersey already actively participates in a number of French working groups where renewable energy is a key topic due to the development of the St Brieuc windfarm in French territorial waters.’
Ailes Marines vice-president Emmanuel Rollin – whose company is behind the development of the £2.1 billion wind farm off the coast of Brittany – previously said his firm would be willing to join a similar venture in Jersey’s territorial waters.
Last summer, the former head of Jersey Met renewed calls for a network of turbines off the Island’s west coast and Jersey Electricity began ‘accelerating research’ into the site’s development. JE chief executive Chris Ambler said ‘we are in a position to establish the economic viability’ of a large-scale wind energy scheme.
In response to concerns that the St Brieuc wind farm off could threaten Jersey’s bat population and maritime habitats, Deputy Renouf said that ‘any decisions on the development of a wind farm, or similar, would have appropriate biodiversity surveys carried out’.
However, he added that they were ‘committed to investigating all possible avenues for renewables in Jersey’.
The St Brieuc wind farm, which the JEP investigated in a three-part series last October, is on target to be completed this year, and will supply nearly 9% of Brittany’s total electricity consumption. The French government has set a target of establishing 50 offshore wind farms by 2050.
