REI Mar-Apr 2012 - Renewable Energy Installer

motorbikes – this year will likely see the
landmark record of a 100mph average circuit
speed achieved by an electric model.
“More than 87 per cent of the Isle of
Man territory is offshore,” said Dr Ken Milne,
senior manager for energy policy at the Isle of
Man Government. “We have the capacity and
the capability to be generating thousands of
megawatts of renewable energy to feed into
the UK National Grid.
“Our territorial waters are the equivalent
of Rounds 1 and 2 of the Crown Estate leasing
programme for offshore wind farms – most
of our water is shallow and we have perfect
wind conditions.
“Our close proximity to the UK allows
By 2015, we aim to produce
15 per cent of our electricity
needs from renewable
sources
a more cost effective interconnection than
many other new offshore wind farms around
the UK coast and we have the precision
manufacturing supply chain already in place
on the island.
“By 2015, we aim to produce 15 per
cent of our electricity needs from renewable
sources and by 2020 we may be able to supply
10 times as much low-carbon electricity
to the UK as the entire island electricity
consumption in a year .
“The island is well set up for the trial and
research of low-carbon technology, we have
manufacturing companies on the island that
specialise in the aerospace industry supplying
Boeing and Airbus and the optics for the Mars
Explorer mission were manufactured on the
Isle of Man.
“We are a signatory of the same
intellectual property rights treaties as the
UK and the rest of Europe, which means all
royalties and revenues from IP is zero-rated
for tax.”
The island is also working on developing
News: Profi le
Aiming high: The Isle of Man aims to produce 15 per
cent of its electricity from renewables by 2020
smart grid technology and is perfectly
positioned in the middle of the Irish Sea to
connect Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales,
which could create the blueprint of a much
larger, pan-European smart grid model.
Dr Milne added: “We are investigating
opportunities to become a major net exporter
of renewable energy and we have the
capacity, skills and infrastructure to achieve it.
“We are looking at other countries such
as Scotland for offshore renewables and
Singapore for smart grid technology to see
how the Isle of Man can best support the role
of these low-carbon technologies.
“The island’s peak demand for electricity
is 90MW so everything we can generate
above this and our base load of 40MW can be
exported straight to the UK.
“Our energy-to-waste plant already
enables the island to divert 100 per cent
of domestic waste from landfi ll – the next
big opportunity to help reduce our carbon
footprint is from the renewable energy
produced from our territorial waters.”
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