Abstract
A large scale commercial tidal power station which could be a world first is to be developed from the large tidal resource in Alderney’s waters. Alderney, the third largest Channel Isle, owns its own territorial waters out to the 3 mile limit and has its own government which has enabled it to establish a one-stop, robust consents and licensing procedure to exploit the resource. The Alderney Commission for Renewable Energy was formed specially to oversee and regulate the development of Alderney’s renewable energy resources and to ensure an appropriate financial benefit to the Island from their exploitation. Detailed conceptual work by the Commission, a local company, Alderney Renewable Energy Ltd (ARE), and the tidal device developer, Open Hydro, has led to an agreement for ARE to exploit 48 square miles of the territorial waters with a resource of several GW. A first stage is planned to deploy Open Hydro turbines to supply 285 MW to the nearby French grid on the Cotentin peninsula. The remaining territorial waters out to 3 miles and the waters beyond are available for other schemes