Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

As mentioned in the overview for the Productive chapter introduction of the Solway Review this section is populated with data and information from the Socio-economic Assessment’s for the Scottish (SEASS), and English Solway (SEAES), which are two separate projects completed in 2020. Text below will be predominantly directly from the SEASS or SEAES Reports but is altered at times. These reports are available here. These socio-economic reports were needed in light of the changing face of socio-economic aspects impacting the Solway Firth, and also for the purpose of populating the productive section of the Solway Review. Text from the SEASS and SEAES reports is not referenced individually.

Image; Robin Rigg from Siddick. © Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

Scotland - Summary

There is limited energy activity in the Scottish Solway with the most notable being the Robin Rigg windfarm. Robin Rigg had a total of 60 wind turbines constructed, and now has 58 currently operational, with two turbines being decommissioned as they had become unstable as a result of the condition of the seabed. The remaining turbines had work completed to ensure stability in the foreseeable future. Robin Rigg has an installed generating capacity of 180MW (60 x 3MW turbines), and now has a generating capacity of 172MW due to the removal of two turbines.
The main gas pipelines linking Scotland and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are located in Dumfries & Galloway, with economic activity located at the Brighouse Bay and Moffat Compressor Stations.
There are currently no proposals to undertake further wind power or fossil fuels exploration on the Scottish Solway Firth. There are some proposals for tidal power generation, but these are still at very early stages of development and still require all necessary consents. It is worth noting that an area of the Scottish Solway has also been outlined in the Draft sectoral marine plan for offshore wind energy 2019 as suitable for future commercial wind farm development (Draft Plan Option (DPO) SW1). A new offshore wind leasing round was launched by Scottish Crown Estate in June 2020 (see more below under ‘Scotland – Renewable Energy’). This DPO SW1 was dropped from the final Sectoral marine plan for offshore wind energy, and therefore is not outlined as a Final plan option. There are no Final plan option areas outlined in the Sectoral marine plan in the Solway.

It is challenging to define and identify the economic value of the sector due to a lack of significant energy sites in the region. There are around 250 employed in Dumfries & Galloway in the energy sector. However, the majority of these are employed at various hydroelectric sites and are not related to the marine economy and are therefore not included in this analysis.

The data should therefore be treated with caution, and the low level of activity means it is subject to a high level of uncertainty and confidential disclosure.

Defining the Sector

It is challenging to define and identify the economic value of the sector due to a lack of significant energy sites in the region. As mentioned above, there are around 250 employed in Dumfries & Galloway in the energy sector, the majority of which are not included in this analysis as they are not linked to the marine economy.

The data should therefore be treated with caution, and the low level of activity means it is subject to a high level of uncertainty and confidential disclosure.

Economic activity is considered using the following Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes (Office for National Statistics, 2007): 35.1: Electric power generation, transmission and distribution; 35.2: Manufacture of gas; distribution of gaseous fuels through mains.

A summary of the changes across economic indicators (2014 to 2018) is presented in the table below.

* 2014 to 2017 and adjusted to 2017 prices

Image; Portling with Robin Rigg in the distance. © Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

Scotland - Renewable Energy

Offshore Wind

The only currently operational offshore wind sites in the Solway Firth are Robin Rigg East and Robin Rigg West owned and operated by RWE. Both sites are of broadly similar size. The turbines had an installed combined generating capacity of 180MW, however there were 60 turbines installed originally. In 2015, two turbines had to be removed as they had become unstable and therefore the generating capacity is now 172MW due to the removal of two turbines each 3MW capacity. By the end of 2016 work had been completed on the remaining turbines to ensure that the turbines will remain operational for the foreseeable future.

Robin Rigg has a variety of local opinions, some locals mention the impact on the Landscape/seascape and cite concerns with interaction with tourism and coastal view. It has been referred to as an excellent navigational tool, indicating the exact location within the Solway, especially given the fact that it is lit up day and night and is visible in most weather unless very adverse conditions. There are often concerns over habitat loss or damage due to the construction phase of offshore renewable energy installations, however structures, such as the Robin Rigg wind farm, have the potential to form artificial reefs free to be colonised by a variety of marine organisms.

The operations and maintenance base for Robin Rigg are based in England, located at the port of Workington, with the grid connection slightly further north near Seaton. There is therefore no direct economic activity associated with Robin Rigg in Dumfries & Galloway.

A community benefit fund was established when the farm was installed. This covered six community councils on the Dumfries and Galloway Solway Coast and a number of communities on the Cumbrian Solway. It initially ran for a ten year period ending in 2020 with £120,000 of funding available per annum. This fund has been used to fund a wide variety of projects such as regenerating parks, renovating village halls, etc.

A new fund has recently been established for coastal communities from Borgue to Caerlaverock in Dumfries and Galloway and from Silloth on Solway to St Bees in Cumbria. The Robin Rigg Community Fund, initially running for three years to 2022 with funding of £130,000 per annum, which is being administered by Solway Firth Partnership.

In addition to this, Robin Rigg provide £8,000 per year to Solway Firth Partnership to produce Tidelines Magazine, a bi-annual publication providing a variety of information and articles on the Scottish and English sides of the Solway and including the Round Robin Newsletter and available at a variety of locations including library’s and visitor centres.

There are currently no publicly available plans to develop further offshore wind sites in the Solway Firth. However, it is worth noting that an area of the Scottish Solway outside Luce Bay has also been outlined in the Draft sectoral marine plan for offshore wind energy 2019 as suitable for future commercial wind farm development. This area is referred to as Draft Plan Option (DPO) SW1. A new offshore wind leasing round was launched by Scottish Crown Estate in June 2020. ScotWind leasing has (as of August 2020) published Clarifications documents from over 800 requests, and will publish the Post Adoption Addendum following the adoption of Scotland’s draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy. It is worth noting that stakeholders were very active in their involvement in the consultation on the Draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in relation to the SW1 site comparative to other DPO sites. The consultation analysis highlighted that SW1 (the proposed site located in the Scottish Solway) received the most responses to the question ‘Do you support the selection of the following Draft Plan Options?’ While other DPOs received between 97 and 102 responses, the number of responses relating to SW1 was 400. Furthermore, other DPOs received a support rate of between 34% and 41% whereas SW1 received a support rate of only 10%, with 82% opposition rate, and 9% neither supporting or opposing (Scottish Government, 2020). This DPO SW1 was dropped from the final Sectoral marine plan for offshore wind energy, and therefore is not outlined as a Final plan option. Strong opposition from stakeholders and a variety of concerns (such as the potential level of socio-economic benefit to the region, negative bird, seascape and cumulative impacts) were raised during consultation of the Draft plan, and NatureScot Supplementary Advice on seascape and visual impacts were all highlighted as reasons why the Scottish Ministers decided not to progress the SW1 DPO at present.

Marine Scotland held in-person consultation events in Stranraer, Newton Stewart and Kirkcudbright to gauge public opinion on the development of the offshore wind leasing site in the Solway.

Tidal Energy

The Solway Firth has considerable potential for tidal energy generation, with Luce bay identified as a draft option for tidal energy development in the Draft Sectoral Marine Plans for Offshore Wind Wave and Tidal 2013, see map opposite.

An agreement/option to lease is held by Marine Current Turbines Ltd (part of SIMEC Atlantis Energy) near the Mull of Galloway for a potential tidal farm. A 2017 paper suggested that this project is ‘in development’ and could have a capacity of 30MW (Neill et al, 2017) but there is little other information on this site.

Whilst there are currently no approved plans for tidal energy generation, there have been a number of proposals, see below.

1. Solway Energy Gateway

Solway Energy Gateway is a proposed tidal energy generation scheme that plans to create an “electric bridge” between Annan and Bowness-on-Solway at the site of a former rail bridge, the Solway Viaduct, which was demolished in 1933.

Unlike some other tidal energy schemes, this project will not rely upon the creation of a tidal lagoon, generating energy solely based on tidal flow. It is estimated to have a generation capacity of around 100 MW, enough to provide power to around 60,000 homes.

Furthermore, it will create a pedestrian and cycle link between Scotland and England, benefiting local communities, and has the potential to become a tourist attraction.

However, there is considerable uncertainty around this project. The project website estimates that that construction could have started in 2018, yet current estimates put this at 2025 at the earliest, subject to receiving all necessary consents and attracting the considerable finance that this project would require.

2. Solway Estuary Tidal Gateway

The Solway Estuary Tidal Gateway is a proposal by North West Energy Squared (NWE²) involving the construction of a bridge linking Kirkcudbright and Workington with tidal turbines spanning the full length. This is part of a wider £12 billion proposal for six similar structures in estuaries in Wales and the North West of England (The Times, 2015).

It is estimated that this scheme could potentially generate 8.44TWh annually, enough to power in the region of 2 million homes, reduce travel time from Workington to Kirkcudbright by more than an hour, potentially boosting regional tourism, and could also help to mitigate flood risk in a particularly flood prone coastal region of the country.

It is estimated that after a two year preparatory period beginning in 2022, construction would take seven years, and as with the Solway Energy Gateway, this would be subject to obtaining consents and funding.

The current status of this project is unclear, with no new information since 2015 and the NWE² website no longer available.

3. Tidal Electric Offshore Lagoon

An offshore tidal Lagoon is proposed in the Solway Firth by a consortium consisting of Tidal Electric, Ecotricity and DEME. The project would consist of one or two offshore tidal lagoons that would be constructed from rubble or rock armour in the Solway Firth with turbines to generate electricity. It has the potential to generate 600GWh annually and will cost in the region of £650m.

This would reportedly have a number of advantages over onshore lagoons and tidal barrages, including reduced impact on wildlife (with migratory fish not being required to swim through turbines) and the environment (with a low impact on the inter-tidal zone), greater efficiency and lower costs.

As the with the other tidal power proposals, the project is currently in a very early stage of development, but could be up and running by 2026 should necessary consents and financing be secured.

Image; Scotland’s National Marine Plan Interactive, with layers (links will provide usage licence, data provider, etc); ‘Solway Region (mask)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Tidal Lease Sites – Crown Estate Scotland – June 2019‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved. Contains information from the Crown Estate Scotland licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, ‘Sectoral Marine Plan (SMP) – Tidal Draft Plan Options (2013)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

Scotland - Hydrocarbon Energy Activity

Gas Pipelines

There are two sub-sea gas connections in Dumfries & Galloway, the twin Scotland to Ireland Gas Interconnector which connects gas supplies from Brighouse Bay to Gormanston in the Republic of Ireland, and the Scotland to Northern Ireland gas pipeline which runs from the Rhins of Galloway to Islandmagee in Northern Ireland. The map opposite shows these pipelines. The pipelines are all displayed as red lines as they are gas pipelines. The map also shows the active terminals for these pipelines (black squares).

Moffat and Brighouse Bay Compressor Stations are the main generators of economic activity related to these pipelines in Dumfries & Galloway employing in the region of 15 to 20 people. There has recently been an upgrade in the infrastructure link between these two sites, with the twinning of the onshore section of the pipeline being completed in 2018 (Gas Networks Ireland, n.d.)

Oil and Gas Reserves

There are currently no offshore hydrocarbon fields or undeveloped discoveries in the Solway Firth. As you can see on the map opposite there are two previously explored wells. These are shown as grey circles, with one located south of Kirkcudbright and one west of the Mull of Galloway. Both of these wells were dry, being explored in 1996 and 1995 respectively. There are some oil and gas pipelines which run underneath the Solway Firth and North Channel. As of 2011 there was over 90km of pipeline (Baxter et al, 2011). Further, there are plans for a sub-sea coking coal mine off Whitehaven on the English Solway Coast, indicating some hydrocarbon potential of the region. There are, however, large scale restrictions on oil and gas activity, due to military training and testing facilities, these are red blocks in the map opposite (see Defence for more information on the Defence sector in the Solway), and environmental designations (see Protected Areas for more information on designations in the Solway). Within the map opposite the red boxes are areas where oil and gas activities are restricted, due to Ministry of Defence related activities. 

Image; Scotland’s National Marine Plan Interactive, with layers (links will provide usage licence, data provider, etc); ‘Solway Region (mask)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Oil and Gas – Hydrocarbon Pipelines (OGA and OceanWise)‘ Contains © British Crown & OceanWise. Licence No. EK001-20140401 and information provided by the Oil and Gas Authority and/or other third parties, ‘Oil and Gas – Infrastructure – Surface (OGA WMS)‘ © Oil and Gas Authority, Contains information provided by the Oil and Gas Authority, ‘Oil and Gas – Infrastructure – Wells (OGA WMS)‘, © Oil and Gas Authority, Contains information provided by the Oil and Gas Authority and/or other third parties, ‘Oil and Gas – Blocks where oil and gas activity is restricted (OGA WMS)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

Scotland - Aggregates

There are extensive areas in the Solway Firth suitable for aggregate extraction.The map opposite outlines areas with suitable sand and gravel resources. There is, however, no data regarding the amount of aggregates extraction activity which takes place in the Solway.

Image; Scotland’s National Marine Plan Interactive, with layers (links will provide usage licence, data provider, etc); ‘Solway Region (mask)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Sand gravel resources‘; © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Prospective sand and gravel resources (hidden below 1:500,000)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

Scotland - Regional Look Forward

There is significant potential for renewable energy in the Solway Firth, both in offshore wind and tidal. Robin Rigg Wind Farm is currently the only renewable energy facility, with no current plans for further offshore wind. However, a leasing round for new offshore wind sites was launched Spring 2020 by Crown Estate Scotland. A site within the Scottish side of the Firth (Draft Plan Option SW1) has been suggested as suitable within the Draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in December 2019.

There are at least two large-scale tidal energy projects proposed in the Solway Firth. However, both of these need to overcome significant challenges before they can progress, not least in securing necessary permissions and funding. There is currently a lack of information on the progress of these projects, and it is uncertain whether they will go ahead.

In terms of fossil fuels, there are no current plans for any extraction in the Scottish Solway coast. However, there are plans to open an undersea coking coal mine off the English Solway coast near Whitehaven, indicating that there is potential for offshore hydrocarbon extraction in the region.

Image; Luce Bay. © N. Coombey/ Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Summary

The most notable energy asset to the English Solway Coast is the Robin Rigg Wind Farm, despite the fact that the wind farm is located across the jurisdictional boundary, in the Scottish Solway. The turbines had an installed combined generating capacity of 180MW, however there were 60 turbines installed originally. In 2015, two turbines had to be removed as they had become unstable. By the end of 2016 work had been completed on the remaining turbines to ensure that the turbines will remain operational for the foreseeable future. Although this wind farm is located in Scottish waters it is connected to Workington, Cumbria.

The other notable development is the planned Woodhouse Colliery, from West Cumbria Mining, a subsea coking coal mine which is scheduled to start operating in 2023. The plans are under review and have been ‘called in’ by the Secretary of State for the Local Government.

Currently, there are no concrete plans for further energy projects in the English Solway Firth. However, there are plans for tidal power generation but these are still at very early stages of development and still require all necessary consents.

Defining the Sector

Economic activity is considered using the following Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes (Office for National Statistics, 2007): 35.1: Electric power generation, transmission and distribution; 35.2: Manufacture of gas; distribution of gaseous fuels through mains.

Image; Onshore wind turbine shadow, Siddick. © Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Contribution to the Economy

Employment

There are just under 100 people employed in the energy industry relating to the Solway on the English side of the Firth, primarily at the Robin Rigg Wind Farm operations and maintenance centre in Workington. This has been relatively stable over the last five years, however, there were spikes in activity in Workington in 2009 and 2012, see figure below, ‘English Solway: Energy Employment, 2009 – 2018’. This is presumably due to activity around Robin Rigg.

English Solway: Energy Employment, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (BRES))

The Location Quotient (please see the Productive overview for an explanation of Location Quotients) of the energy industry on the English Solway Coast, seen in the figure below, is relatively low. This reflects the low level of activity on the English Solway Coast.

English Solway: Energy Location Quotients. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (BRES))

Image; Port of Workington. © Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Economic Output - Turnover and GVA

Due to the small scale of the energy sector and the concentration of activity on a single site, the turnover and GVA figures are suppressed and unavailable.

Image; Onshore turbine shadow, Robin Rigg on the horizon. © Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Renewable Energy Activity

Offshore Wind

Currently, the only operational offshore wind sites in the Solway Firth are Robin Rigg East and Robin Rigg West, owned and operated by RWE. Both sites are of broadly similar size and have a combined total of 58 turbines (originally 60 turbines). The site was originally constructed and operated by E.ON, with full electricity generation beginning in 2010. In 2019, RWE acquired E.ON’s renewable energy portfolio, including Robin Rigg (Reuters, 2019).

The operations and maintenance base for Robin Rigg is located at the Port of Workington, with the grid connection slightly further north near Seaton. This site accounts for the majority of employment and economic activity in the energy sector in the region.

At present, there are no publicly available plans to develop further offshore wind sites in the Solway Firth. However, The Crown Estate are currently holding a leasing round for new offshore wind sites with part of the English Solway included in the Northern Wales and Irish Sea region of the leasing round, see map below, ‘English Offshore Bidding Areas’ (The Crown Estate, 2019).

English Offshore Bidding Areas. (Source: The Crown Estate, 2019)

Onshore Wind

There are two onshore windfarms on the English Solway Coast: Siddick and Oldtown windfarm which consists of 14 turbines with a combined generating capacity of 8.4 MW; and the Winscales Moor Windfarm to the east of Workington, consisting of seven turbines with a generating capacity of 6MW.

Tidal Energy

The Solway Firth has considerable potential for tidal energy generation. The Crown Estate currently offer opportunities to access the seabed for wave projects of up to 30MW (The Crown Estate, n.d.).
Whilst there are currently no approved plans for tidal energy generation, there have been a number of proposals as outlined below.

1. Solway Energy Gateway

Solway Energy Gateway is a proposed tidal energy generation scheme that plans to create an “electric bridge” between Annan and Bowness-on-Solway at the site of a former rail bridge, the Solway Viaduct, which was demolished in 1933.

Unlike some other tidal energy schemes, this project will not rely upon the creation of a tidal lagoon, generating energy solely based on tidal flow. It is estimated that it will have a generation capacity of around 100MW, enough to provide power to around 60,000 homes.

Furthermore, it will create a pedestrian and cycle link between Scotland and England, benefiting local communities, and has the potential to become a tourist attraction.

However, there is considerable uncertainty around this project. The project website estimates that construction should have started in 2018, however, current estimates put this at 2025 at the earliest, subject to receiving all necessary consents and attracting the considerable finance that this project would require (Solway Energy Gateway, 2011).

2. Solway Estuary Tidal Gateway

The Solway Estuary Tidal Gateway is a proposal by North West Energy Squared (NWE²) involving the construction of a bridge linking Kirkcudbright and Workington with tidal turbines spanning the full length. This is part of a wider £12 billion proposal for six similar structures in estuaries in Wales and the North West of England (The Times, 2015).

It is estimated that this scheme could potentially generate 8.44TWh annually, enough to power in the region of two million homes, reduce travel time from Workington to Kirkcudbright by more than an hour, potentially boosting regional tourism, and could also help to mitigate flood risk in a particularly flood prone coastal region of the country.

It is estimated that after a two-year preparatory period beginning in 2022, construction would take seven years, and as with the Solway Energy Gateway, this would be subject to obtaining consents and funding.

The current status of this project is unclear, with no new information made available since 2015, and the NWE² website is no longer in existence.

3. Tidal Electric Offshore Lagoon

An offshore tidal lagoon is proposed in the Solway Firth by a consortium consisting of Tidal Electric, Ecotricity and DEME.

The project would consist of one or two offshore tidal lagoons that would be constructed from rubble or rock armour in the Solway Firth with turbines to generate electricity. It has the potential to generate 600GWh annually and will cost in the region of £650m.

This would reportedly have a number of advantages over onshore lagoons and tidal barrages, including reduced impact on wildlife (with migratory fish not being required to swim through turbines) and the environment (with a low impact on the inter-tidal zone), greater efficiency and lower costs.

As with the other tidal power proposals, the project is currently in a very early stage of development, but could be up and running by 2026 should necessary consents and financing be secured.

Image; Siddick Windfarm. © Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Hydrocarbon Energy Activity

Woodhouse Colliery

Woodhouse Colliery, a proposed subsea coking coal mine on the former Marchon chemical works in Whitehaven, was given conditional planning permission by Cumbria County Council in April 2019. However, environmental groups that objected the development were granted a judicial review of the planning approval (BBC News, 2020). The Woodhouse Colliery plans were previously approved by Cumbria County Council, but were being reviewed by the Council again considering the carbon budget. However, the approval decision no longer lies with the council as the Secretary of State for Local Government has decided to ‘call in’ the plans. Following a public inquiry, final approval or rejection of the plans will be up to him. Information about the ‘call in’ process can be found here. There are ongoing objections to the Woodhouse Colliery plans.

The mine plans to access both onshore and offshore seams of high-grade metallurgical coal for use in the steel industry.

There are currently no mines in the UK producing metallurgical coal, and therefore the UK steel industry imports all its coal. The mine is projected to produce more than enough coal for the UK steel industry, with the remainder being exported via Redcar bulk terminal.

As well as the mine itself, a variety of mine related buildings will be constructed on site, including a coal processing facility and storage building office space. In addition, a rail loading facility on the Cumbrian Coast Rail Line will be constructed approximately two kilometres from the site connected by an underground conveyor belt to transport coal.

Once up and running, the site is estimated to directly create up to 500 jobs in the local area, with an additional 1,000 jobs indirectly created through supply chain and multiplier effects.

There is disagreement as to the scale of the carbon emissions which will result from the use of the mined coal. Developers claim that it will be ‘carbon neutral’ for the following reasons:

• the mine will substitute imported coal from North America, reducing transport emissions;
• 250,000 trees will be planted per annum; and
• there is a lack of a viable alternative to coking coal in steel production.

Environmental groups on the other hand claim that increased production will reduce coking coal prices, therefore making its use more attractive, and consider there to be many alternatives to using coking coal in steel production (NS Energy, 2020)

The reality is likely somewhere in the middle. There likely will be transport emissions savings, but an increase in world production of coking coal of 0.3% is unlikely to have a major effect on either global output or price and will therefore be unlikely to displace existing activity so that the development is carbon neutral, or reduce prices to an extent that makes coking coal more attractive (International Energy Agency, 2020).

Oil and Gas Reserves

There are currently no offshore hydrocarbon fields or undeveloped discoveries in the Solway Firth.

The plans for Woodhouse Colliery demonstrate the hydrocarbon potential of the region. There are, however, large scale restrictions on oil and gas activity, due to military training and testing facilities, these are red blocks in the map opposite (see Defence for more information on the Defence sector in the Solway), and environmental designations (see Protected Areas for more information on designations in the Solway). Within the map opposite the red boxes are areas where oil and gas activities are restricted, due to Ministry of Defence related activities. 

Image; Scotland’s National Marine Plan Interactive, with layers (links will provide usage licence, data provider, etc); ‘Solway Region (mask)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Limits and Boundaries – NE and NW Marine Plan Areas for England (MMO) – August 2016‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Oil and Gas – Blocks where oil and gas activity is restricted (OGA WMS)‘, © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Power Cables

The only subsea power cables on the English Solway Coast are those connecting the Robin Rigg Wind Farm to Workington in Cumbria, see map opposite.

Image; Scotland’s National Marine Plan Interactive, with layers (links will provide usage licence, data provider, etc); ‘Solway Region (mask)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Limits and Boundaries – NE and NW Marine Plan Areas for England (MMO) – August 2016‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Power Cables (KIS-ORCA) (hidden when zoomed in past 1:25,000) – January 2020‘, © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Aggregates

There are extensive areas in the Solway Firth suitable for aggregate extraction. The map opposite outlines areas with suitable sand and gravel resources. There is, however, no data regarding the amount of aggregates extraction activity which takes place in the Solway.

Image; Scotland’s National Marine Plan Interactive, with layers (links will provide usage licence, data provider, etc); ‘Solway Region (mask)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Limits and Boundaries – NE and NW Marine Plan Areas for England (MMO) – August 2016‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Sand gravel resources‘; © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved, ‘Prospective sand and gravel resources (hidden below 1:500,000)‘ © Crown Copyright, All rights reserved.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

England - Regional Look Forward

There is significant potential for renewable energy in the Solway Firth, both in offshore wind and tidal, however, the Robin Rigg Wind Farm is currently the only large-scale renewable energy facility. Presently there are no concrete plans for further offshore wind, however, a leasing round for new offshore wind sites is currently being held by The Crown Estate, with part of the English Solway included in the Northern Wales and Irish Sea region of the leasing round.

There are at least two large-scale tidal energy projects proposed in the Solway Firth. However, both of these need to overcome significant challenges before they can progress, not least in terms of securing necessary permissions and funding. There is a lack of information on the progress of the proposed projects, and it is uncertain at this stage whether either will go ahead.

In terms of fossil fuels, there are plans to open an undersea coking coal mine off the English Solway Coast near Whitehaven, indicating that there is potential for offshore hydrocarbon extraction in the region.

Image; Cumbria Coastal Railway at Parton. © Solway Firth Partnership.

Energy, aggregates, subsea cables and pipelines

References

Marine Management Organisation. (n.d). Marine Planning Evidence Base. Available here. (Accessed: 14.05.18)

Marine Scotland (2013). Draft Sectoral Marine Plans for Wind, Wave, and Tidal. Available here. (Accessed: 28.08.20)

Marine Scotland (n.d.). Scotland’s National Marine Plan Interactive. Available here. (Accessed: 06.08.19)

Mills, F., Sheridan, S. and Brown S., (2017). Clyde Marine Region Assessment. Clyde Marine Planning Partnership. pp 231, Available here. (Accessed: 14.05.18)

Office for National Statistics (Various). Annual Business Survey (ABS): custom data request from the ONS & Public data. Available here. (Accessed: 28.07.20)

Tidal Electric Inc (2019). Submission to Select Committee for technologies for meeting Clean Growth emissions reduction targets. Available here. (Accessed: 28.08.20)

In-Text References;

Baxter, J.M., Boyd, I.L., Cox, M., Donald, A.E., Malcolm, S.J., Miles, H., Miller, B., Moffat, C.F., (Editors), (2011). Scotland’s Marine Atlas: Information for the national marine plan. Marine Scotland, Edinburgh. pp 191. Available here. (Accessed 22.07.19)

BBC News (2020). Whitehaven coal mine approval to be reviewed by judge. Available here. (Accessed: 25.08.20)

Gas Networks Ireland (n.d.). Cluden to Brighouse Bay. Available here. (Accessed: 24.08.20)

International Energy Agency (2020). Coal Information. Available here. (Accessed: 27.08.20)

Neill, S. P., Vögler, A., Goward-Brown, A. J., Baston, S., Lewis, M. J., Gillibrand, P. A., Waldman, S. & Woolf, D. K. (2017). The wave and tidal resource of Scotland. Renewable energy, 114, 3-17. Available here. (Accessed: 22.07.20)

NS Energy (2020). What impact will the Woodhouse Colliery have on the UK and its climate targets? Available here. (Accessed: 25.08.20)

Office for National Statistics (Various). Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). Available here. (Accessed: 28.07.20)

Office for National Statistics (2007). Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities. Available here. (Accessed: 22.07.20)

Reuters (2019). UK Competition Authority Clears RWE Purchase of Stake in E.ON. Available here. (Accessed: 25.08.20)

Scottish Government (2020). Draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy 2019: Consultation Analysis Report. Available here. (Accessed: 24.08.20)

Scottish Government (2019). Scottish Annual Business Statistics 2017 (SABS). Available here. (Accessed: 28.07.20)

Solway Energy Gateway (2011). Available here. (Accessed: 26.08.20)

The Crown Estate (2019). Information Memorandum, Introducing Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4. Available here. (Accessed: 26.08.20)

The Crown Estate (n.d.). Energy. Available here. (Accessed: 26.08.20)

The Times (2015). Tidal Barrage to span Solway Firth. Available here. (Accessed: 27.07.20)

Image; Robin Rigg Wind Farm © Solway Firth Partnership.