An updated and expanded version of Guernsey’s environmental regulations has been completed, as the island’s government prepares for offshore wind proposals.
New chapters have been added, and others revised, to Guernsey’s regional environmental assessment (REA), in order to "take into account the possibility of offshore wind development". The island's territorial waters extend to three nautical miles (5.6km).
Four particular areas have been identified: birds, fisheries, shipping and landscape. New information about the island’s wind resource has also been included.
"We are looking at all renewable energy options – wind, tidal, and solar - so that we are ready if development is proposed," explained Peter Barnes, a renewable energy scientist within Guernsey’s department of commerce and employment. A stand-alone regulatory body has yet to be created, Barnes told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Offshore.
The only large renewable energy project on the horizon in the Channel Islands is an innovative development on the island of Alderney. It would combine tidal power with pumped storage.
.png)
.png)
