Is the USA open for business?
2 May 11 - Martin McAdam, CEO
I was in the USA last week meeting potential investors and
speaking at the Global Marine Energy Conference (GMREC) in
Washington DC.
Here's the number one thing I told everyone I met in the US:
Marine energy - or marine hydro-kinetic energy as they call it in
the States - represents a huge global opportunity. (If it
didn't then the hundreds of people who attend GMREC wouldn't have
been there.) The second thing I wanted to get across was the
huge role the US has to play in taking advantage of that global
opportunity because of its available resource, its technology
capability and the availability of capital.
Money, money, money
To capitalise on that opportunity will take three things: Money,
money and money. Or, more specifically, private investment,
government funding, and production incentives. But along with
money, there are a number of other key factors which will prove
vital to the marine energy industry reaching its real potential in
the USA: namely having the required grid infrastructure, the
ability to grow a supply chain, a desire for economic development
and, almost as important as money, a friendly and supportive
permitting regime.
Energy security v permitting process
Why is a permitting regime so important? Ask anyone on a
technology development programme and I'd wager that they'd put
permitting and the associated delays up there as one of their
biggest challenges. The balance of desires to move to a long-term
secure energy future and the permitting effort to prove the first
pre-commercial arrays needs to be taken into account. Anecdotally
it is estimated that a permit for a wave energy array in California
would cost in the region of $10m as you negotiate your way through
23 local, state and federal permits. Another example is the Cape
Wind Project, admittedly a much more controversial project, which
has been eight years in the permitting phase and cost somewhere in
the region of $30m.
I don't have the cash to spend $10m (never mind $30m) on
permitting - I would much prefer to spend that on the continued
development of Aquamarine Power's Oyster technology - or head for a
country or state where permitting costs a tenth as much. As I said,
a balance needs to be struck between the permitting burden for the
early arrays and the desire for energy security, commercial
activity and technology development.
Economic development
Oregon is a state that is trying to get it right. The Oregon
Wave Energy Trust is working hard to engage in the sea planning
process and I'd urge you to read the recent online article 'Waiting for wave energy' in Oregon
Business to find out more about this.
Economic development in the sea is not just about the
traditional industries - it's also about the newer marine energy
industries that can and will contribute to economic development.
Fishing is a huge and vital industry. Energy is also a vital
industry - there is room in our seas for both these industries and
I ask regulators in the USA to engage with our industry. Our
objective is not to damage existing industries. Our objective is to
produce clean, renewable energy that contributes not only to
electricity export but underpins manufacturing industries.