RenewableUK 2014

It has become recognised as the renewables event to attend in the UK; the organisers’ flagship event covering onshore and offshore wind, wave & tidal energy and small & medium wind systems. It will be attended by over 4,500 delegates, 200+ exhibitors and 150 speakers.

The conference and exhibition offers an energetic programme, networking opportunities, Gala Dinner, Careers section and more. Delegates are set to enjoy three days of conference sessions, extensive exhibition and side events addressing policy and technical developments in the industry.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Delegates will be able to hear from over 150 expert speakers on the UK’s technical expertise, latest innovations, policy experience and leadership. The programme will feature a Political Keynote Address from The Rt Hon Edward Davey MP, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, Business Leaders Debate, Share Fair and a Political Panel Debate featuring The Rt Hon Gregory Barker MP, Prime Minister’s Envoy on Climate Change. In addition to this there will be dedicated technology streams and educational seminars dedicated to careers and landowners.

Wednesday is the time for delegates to drill further down into the real world scenarios and separate conference programmes are provided for Offshore Wind, Onshore Wind, Wave & Tidal, and Small & Medium Wind:

OFFSHORE WIND
‘Cumulative Impacts in Round 3: Social and Ecological Challenges’ will examine how cumulative impacts are interpreted in the context of Round 3 consenting and what are some of the key themes that have emerged since the first Round 3 projects entered scoping. Emphasis is on practical examples, solutions and knowledge sharing, with a look at mitigation of both social and ecological impacts.

Offshore wind is set to provide close to 10% of UK’s electricity within the next 5 years. In parallel, innovation continues apace both domestically and abroad. ‘Up for Grabs: Financing Innovation’ will look at the innovation funding landscape, examine funding objectives and discuss strategies for winning funding bids. The aim is to understand how funding for offshore innovation reflects current industry needs.

Traditionally offshore wind farms were financed off balance sheets by the main utilities and other large developers. Once operational the assets were in many cases sold off, enabling the recycling of capital. The next round of wind developments promises an emergence of alternative business models – or will it? ‘Financing Offshore Wind Farms: New Business Models for a New Policy Climate’ looks at emerging trends in raising capital for offshore wind farm construction and attempts to draw conclusions on how well will the sector fare to 2020 and beyond.

‘Construction Lessons Learned: How UK Experience is Delivering Better Projects at Lower Cost’ is designed to shed light on the long and often extremely challenging process of constructing a world leading energy project – a wind farm in the North, or Irish Sea. Presentations should be based on practical examples and first hand experiences, with particular emphasis on how experience will deliver cost reductions for the next generation of offshore wind schemes. The chairman for this session is Mike Unsworth, Offshore Wind Project Director, Eneco Wind UK Ltd. Mike is a Vice-Chair of RUK’s Offshore Wind Delivery Group and a qualified Mechanical Engineer who has worked in the power industry for 31 years.

WAVE & TIDAL
The UK government has been hugely supportive of the wave and tidal sector with extensive capital support and a much greater strike price than all other renewable technologies, as well as a ring-fenced pot for 100MW in the Levy Control Framework. However, with political focus on energy prices, the sector must focus on bringing costs down rapidly as it moves to large scale deployment. ‘The Pathway to Cost Competitive Wave and Tidal Energy’ will look at what has driven costs down in other industries and how this could be applied to wave and tidal energy. It will identify key areas where cost savings could be made. The session will be chaired by Henry Jeffrey, Senior Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh.

A number of developers have successfully achieved consent for their projects and although grid connection remains an issue for large arrays, a number of demonstration projects have secured grid connections. For Wednesday’s ‘Project and Technology Showcase’ the conference has invited the leading project and device developers to update on their progress in the last 12 months. This session will be chaired by Stuart Herbert, Commercial Director of Wave Hub.

‘Building a UK Supply Chain for an Industrialised International Market’ will look at how the companies and supply chain for the sector has grown to date. It will explore what is needed for the sector to become an industry including manufacturing facilities, installation capability, port facilities and skills. It will explore how we can keep value in the UK supply chain as the sector becomes an industry and begins to export to global markets. The session is due to be chaired by Johanna Yates, SEGEC Ocean Energy Manager, Scottish Enterprise. Johanna joined the Scottish European Green Energy Centre team in June 2012 to work on their offshore renewables portfolio.

EXHIBITION
With such an extensive conference programme it’s easy to forget that RenewableUK’s expansive exhibition is set to showcase 200+ high quality exhibitors including manufacturers, developers, service suppliers, consultancies, government agencies and more. It could be perfect opportunity to learn about and do business with the wind, wave & tidal industry.

By Jake Frith