J P Kenny has been appointed to manage the design, procurement and construction of a Wave Hub renewable energy project off the coast of South West England. The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) has selected J P Kenny, part of John Wood Group PLC, as its engineering and management contractor for the project.
The RDA is leading the development of Wave Hub, which will create the world's largest wave energy farm 10 miles off the north coast of Cornwall.
Wave Hub will be an electrical 'socket' on the seabed connected to the National Grid via a subsea cable. With a capacity of up to 20MW, it will allow the pre-commercial testing of wave energy devices on a scale not seen before.
Four wave device developers are working with the RDA on the project, and it is anticipated that up to 30 devices could be deployed. Consents have already been obtained from the UK Government for the Wave Hub site.
J P Kenny was selected following a competitive tender process. There were 11 expressions of interest and three companies were shortlisted.
J P Kenny will spend the next few months working on the concept designs for Wave Hub, progressing to detailed designs by May of next year. Wave Hub is expected to be installed and operational by 2010.
An independent economic impact assessment, commissioned by the RDA, has shown that Wave Hub could create 1,800 jobs and £560 million in the UK economy over 25 years. Almost 1,000 of these jobs and £332 million could be generated in South West England.
More information on this project:
* The South West RDA is planning to create the world's first large scale wave energy farm by constructing an electrical 'socket' on the seabed at a depth of around 50 metres some 10 miles (18.5 km) off Hayle on the Cornwall coast in South West England.Find out more about:
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