Go-ahead for £28m Cornish wave farm
Guardian Unlimited
Monday September 17 2007
The world's first large scale wave farm, to be built off the coast of Cornwall, will get the go-ahead, it emerged today.
The government is poised to announce planning permission for the £28m renewable energy project.
However, the business secretary, John Hutton, will use the announcement to warn that a "snail's pace" planning system is preventing more green energy schemes from going through.
Mr Hutton will accuse green groups of being hypocritical by opposing proposals to speed up the planning system.
The Cornish wave farm, known as a wave hub, will be built 10 miles off Hayle and has been described as a "giant electric socket" on the seabed.
It could generate enough electricity for 7,500 homes, saving 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over 25 years and meeting 3% of Cornwall's domestic electricity needs.
Companies developing wave energy technology will be able to plug up to 30 devices into the 50 metre deep hub to test them.
Four companies have already been chosen to use the installation, which will cover an area of sea measuring 4km by 2km. The hub is expected to be operational by 2009.
Maria McCaffery, the chief executive of the British Wind Energy Association, said the project represented the "kind of progress that makes the UK the global hotspot for the expansion of carbon free energy from the sea".
In a lecture to the Fabian Society, Mr Hutton will say that other environmentally friendly energy projects have been stuck in the planning system for more than two years.
As a result, 2.4m tonnes of carbon have been unnecessarily pumped into the atmosphere.
He will say urgent reform of the planning system will be a key factor in determining whether Britain has a realistic chance of meeting its 2020 renewable energy goals, and will claim green groups' opposition to government planning proposals proves their environmentally-friendly rhetoric is "hot air".
"All major infrastructure progress should be put through a rigorous planning process, but we have to get the balance right," he will say. "As along as we all want energy, we have to accept that it needs to be generated somewhere."
Mr Hutton will point out that an increasing percentage of wind farm applications have been turned down in recent years - meaning that, by 2006-2007, almost 50% of all applications had been refused.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England has voiced fears that reforms to speed up the planning system would remove people's right to protest against major infrastructure projects.
Marina Pacheco, the organisation's head of planning, said it was "disappointing" that Mr Hutton was highlighting green opposition to planning reforms.
"We are not against wind farms … but we want them developed in appropriate places," she said.
"We are aware of the problems affecting the planning system but, if you look at the planning delays, it is not local people's concerns that are holding up the system."
Environmental group, Friends of the Earth, said the government was using issues such as climate change to push through major changes to the planning system that will stop local people from having a say in how their area is developed.
FoE planning adviser, Naomi Luhde-Thompson, said: "The vast majority of projects tipped to go ahead under the new system will be huge carbon emitters including new airport runways and motorway expansions." She added: "The slow development of renewable energy projects in the UK is not the fault of the planning system. The problem lies in a lack of leadership at a local level. Some local authorities are blocking renewable projects despite national planning policy which prioritises action on climate change."
"Local councillors must take a lead by highlighting the part all communities need to play their part in tackling climate change and by championing renewable projects."
Mr Hutton will also give permission for a 30-turbine wind farm in the north-east, between Redcar and the mouth of the river Tees