Stuart Carruthers, RYA Cruising Manager, explains: “We are disappointed that the Crown Estate has leased the rights for three tidal energy projects in response to the application timeframe for the Saltire Prize (worth £10 million) rather than waiting for the outcome of its own industry engagement exercise. We had understood that this would be used to inform and update the Crown Estate’s approach to wave and tidal leasing. In addition, as the RYA states in its response to the industry engagement exercise, there is currently a lack of detailed MCA navigation advice for developers that is specific to tidal energy development - this needs to be addressed.

Tidal turbine

A tidal turbine



“Given that the coastal mariner may be using the same tidal streams for efficient passage planning, it is essential that the ‘planning basics for navigation’ are determined and agreed much as has been done for wind energy. We can see already that these lease agreements are in areas that are used by a variety of coastal traffic and recreational boats where under-keel clearance will be a critical design factor.”

The Crown Estate engagement exercise was launched in July 2012 and ended in September. It invited wave and tidal project developers to share their visions of future schemes, including where and when projects may be developed. The exercise also sought suggestions about how The Crown Estate could further improve the way it provides seabed rights, both in the forms of rights provided and the leasing processes itself.

The three organisations which have been granted a lease to develop tidal energy projects are the Isle of Wight Council, Orkney-based Scotrenewables Tidal Power and Swedish technology developer, Minesto. The developers will be required to consult with local stakeholders, complete survey work and prepare applications in order to obtain consent from the relevant authorities, including the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and Marine Scotland.

The RYA has set out its position in relation to the development of offshore renewable tidal energy, which is intended to enable developers accurately to take account of recreational boating when planning developments. Provided these are fully considered, the RYA believes that the impact that offshore renewable tidal energy has on recreational boating can be minimised.