Energy generation from water has great potential in the Wadden Sea region and can supply the Wadden Islands with 83% of their electricity demand as early as 2030, if a number of conditions are met. By that year, the Wadden Sea could also supply 8% of the households in the coastal region with electricity. That conclusion is reached by research institute TNO based on a study of six different initiatives from the business community for extracting Energy from Water (EuW).
According to the Wadden Fund, the ball is now in the national government's court: laws and regulations must be amended. In addition, investments are needed to achieve the intended upscaling by 2030.
In the study, TNO looked at energy generation from wave action, from tidal action and from the mixing of salt and fresh water. The study was commissioned by the Wadden Fund in cooperation with the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, the North Holland Wadden Sea municipalities and two development organizations: the North Holland North Development Company and Invest-NL.
With this outcome of the study, the northern provinces are calling on the national government to accelerate the scaling up of EuW in order to jointly realize a further rollout in the Wadden Sea. "The deployment of other green power complementary to wind and solar energy is crucial in the coming years to meet the climate goals in the Wadden region," said Rosan Kocken, chairman of the Wadden Fund and deputy in North Holland. The TNO study shows that Energy from Water can substantially contribute to making the islands completely self-sufficient in the medium term. On top of that, households in the coastal area can be supplied with 20% to 40% of their electricity demand. This would require EuW installations in the Wadden Sea and along the North Sea coast with a combined capacity of approximately 300 megawatts. That capacity will only come about if, in the period up to 2030, the governments enable the upscaling to market-ready technologies; by removing regulatory bottlenecks; by (financial) support for further upscaling; and by a broader assessment framework than just cost-based assessment.
Many benefits
The TNO study reviewed six existing Energy from Water (EuW) techniques. REDstack (energy from mixing fresh and salt water), Slow Mill (energy from wave power) and Sea Qurrent (energy from tidal ebb and flow) are 3 techniques that are already supported in practice by the Wadden Fund and tested in the Wadden area. Furthermore, three new techniques of Dutch Wave Power and Symphony Wave Power (both from wave power) and FLEB (tidal) were investigated. The researchers recommend focusing on all six initiatives to increase the chances of achieving the Wadden Fund's goals. Energy from Water has a number of advantages. Waves and tides are present throughout the year and can therefore complement other sustainable energy sources well. Local generation in the Wadden Sea allows direct delivery to users. This reduces the need to transport power to the islands. "Energy from Water can contribute to making the power supply more stable," Kocken said. "Additional generation sources are needed, and Energy from Water is one of the most promising."
Breaking down barriers
To accelerate the development of EuW, the central government must remove obstacles in the short term. TNO indicates that this will require "regulatory and legal changes that give the grid operators more room to take other factors into account when considering the order in which projects are connected." That is why the Wadden Fund advocates that the national government figure out how this can be better regulated so that the EuW technologies do not soon miss the boat. Producers of wind and solar energy at sea are now at an advantage. They have access to the grid while EuW technologies do not yet have this access under the Electricity Act. Financing connection to the EuW grid is necessary to balance the business case in the start-up phase and to enable further scaling up and further development of the technologies around 2030. Previous research shows that Energy from Water does not cause substantial damage to the environment and nature of the Wadden Sea and the coastal area. Also, energy generation under water is less visible than on land. New nature is sometimes even created; Slow Mill and SeaQurrent have created new spawning areas for fish in the sea and new shellfish beds grow on the bottom anchors. However, some remaining knowledge questions about the ecological impact of multiple installations still need to be answered. This research will be supported by the Wadden Fund as part of the next scaling up phases of these techniques.
