TIDAL power is not yet a viable renewable energy option for the Island – and will probably not be for another two decades – but ‘the time is right’ for wind power, according to the Environment Minister.
Deputy Jonathan Renouf said that Jersey did not have ‘risk money’ to spend on ‘an unproven technology’, unlike other jurisdictions embarking on tidal-energy projects.
The development of renewable energy has remained a topic of discussion in the Island for years.
In 2007, it emerged that an £80-million project to build a wind farm or underwater tidal turbines in local waters was being considered by Jersey Electricity.
JE chief executive Chris Ambler last year revealed that the company was ‘accelerating research’ into the creation of an offshore wind farm, while Deputy Renouf recently said the Island could have such infrastructure within eight years.
‘We are looking within government at the options for a wind farm and it is something I feel very excited about – and I know a lot of my colleagues are as well,’ he explained.
‘It is a complex thing to try to do – these projects are huge. They require lots of thinking about who your partners might be, the frameworks you might use to do them, how you would consent it, how you would finance it, where the electricity might go, what proportions, possible involvement of Guernsey – these are very complicated issues when you think about how we might have our own wind farm.’
Earlier this year, Alderney’s government invited expressions of interest from third parties in relation to harnessing the power of the tides around the island.
And last month French officials unveiled plans to invest 65 million euros in a tidal farm near Alderney.
Deputy Renouf acknowledged that it was possible Jersey could use tidal technology at some point ‘down the line’, but added: ‘I think you are talking 20 years – it is still a relatively unproven technology.’
He continued: ‘My feeling is that wind power is a commercially viable, proven technology and tidal power and wave power are not – yet. Where [projects] are done they are in experimental stages and heavily subsidy driven, one way or another. As an island we don’t have the luxury of being able to whack millions of pounds of risk money at an unproven technology.
‘What we can do is look out there and see that wind power is in a sweet spot at the moment for the Island. The time is right, the demand is there, the turbines are much more efficient because they are bigger and the technology has matured.’
Deputy Renouf added: ‘So in terms of the cost benefits, you can absolutely see – and we know because we have also been approached by commercial partners who want to do a wind farm in our waters – that it is commercially viable and I don’t think tidal power fits in that category yet.’
