Not in My Break, Dude: U.K. Surfers Oppose Wave Energy Project
By Alex Morales and Alex Armitage
May 30 (Bloomberg) -- Champion surfer Ben Skinner casts his eye along Perran Beach, southwest England, and, between bites of a bacon and egg roll, contemplates the loss of his beloved waves.
Skinner, 22, is worried about the ``Wave Hub,'' a 28 million pound ($56 million) energy project that he says may spoil the swells on the Cornwall coast where he's honed his skills.
If approved, the Wave Hub will generate as many as 20 megawatts of electricity, making it the world's largest wave- power project. It may also reduce wave heights by as much as 13 percent, which Skinner says could cut the number of surfing days.
``Those 1- to 2-foot days in the summer that we get and love, they'll be gone: it'll be flat,'' says Skinner, his long blond hair and Oxbow wetsuit damp from his morning session. ``The idea is good, but I don't think it's been thought about enough. You're going to have a massive problem if it affects any of the beaches around here. This is the surfers' coastline.''
The Wave Hub presents a green dilemma for surfers, a traditionally environment-friendly community. Harnessing wave power reduces reliance on fossil fuels, whose greenhouse gas emissions are blamed by many scientists for global warming. Yet the location of the project may reduce the appeal of surfing in an area where the sport has boosted the local economy.
Cornwall, the southwest corner of England known for its ice cream, meat-filled pastries called pasties and defunct tin mines, has the lowest economic production in England, at 11,100 pounds per person, according to the U.K. National Statistics Office.
The county's burgeoning surf industry, including shops, beachfront bars and surf schools, is worth as much as 150 million pounds a year, according to the Newquay, England-based British Surfing Association.
`I Want My Waves'
``If it stops a complete industry -- jobs, peoples' lives -- then it's livelihoods versus going green,'' says Mick Warren, a surfer and manager of the Watering Hole, a bar on Perran Beach. ``I'm probably a bit selfish. I want my waves.''
Wave Hub has sparked debate on Internet forums such as
http://www.a1surf.com , whose co-founder, John Baxendale, submitted a petition to the government signed by more than 600 surfers. Their gripe is the location, 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the coast of Hayle. That's 20 miles from Newquay, Britain's surf capital.
``I don't know why they had to put it on the stretch of coastline in this country that is most dependent on the surf,'' says Rich Taite, manager of Sunset Surf and Skate, a store in Hayle. ``I'm for the idea of wave hubs, but it's the NIMBY thing: Not In My Back Yard.''
New Technology
The problem is, the swells that attract surfers have also lured scientists searching for a location to test new energy technologies.
Local authorities picked Hayle after considering fishing grounds, shipping, and ease of connection to the national grid, says Nick Harrington, manager of the Wave Hub project for the South West of England Regional Development Agency.
The Wave Hub will sit on the seabed connected to the electrical grid. Above, on the water's surface, will float four different experimental devices designed to harness wave energy. The Hub's maximum capacity of 20 megawatts could power 7,500 homes, project managers say. Wave energy projects are planned in Portugal and Scotland with the goal of developing the technology's commercial potential.
The project will help achieve government targets of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050 and boosting the share of electricity derived from renewable sources to 15 percent by 2016, the agency says. It also may help create 700 jobs, generating 27 million pounds a year by 2020.
``It's an issue for society as a whole, whether this is one of our future sources of energy,'' says Harrington, adding that the U.K. government may give the project the go-ahead next month.
Sea Power
By drawing electricity from the sea, the Wave Hub may knock 11 percent off wave heights along a 12-mile stretch of coastline that includes Perran Beach, with a worst-case scenario of 13 percent, according to the development agency's environmental statement.
A separate study, commissioned to allay surfers' concerns, concluded the devices will take less than 6 percent off waves. That doesn't pacify Baxendale, who organized the petition and says the quality of the surf will be affected.
``If you introduce all these obstructions 10 miles out at sea over several square miles, they'll create all sorts of interference,'' he says.
Still, some local surfers think the experiment may be worth the risk to their pastime.
``Surfers travel a lot. We use planes and automobiles to go to these beaches,'' says Gavin Walsh, a co-owner of the Perranporth Surf School. ``We need to find alternative energy sources to sustain the lifestyles that we live.''
For Skinner, the second-place finisher at last year's International Surfing Association world championships, the project represents a potentially painful sacrifice for alternative energy.
``There's no surfer who wouldn't agree to using nature to get energy,'' he says. ``I do agree with the idea, it's just the location.''
Last Updated: May 29, 2007 19:09 EDT
