About this group
The Clwyd Offshore Tidal Energy CIC (or COTE for short) was established in 2007 with the prime purpose of promoting and developing energy generation from the tidal range (the difference in height of the tide caused by their movement up and down) in Liverpool Bay. Before setting up the CIC we were an informal group of people from across North Wales that came together after the 1990/91 floods in Kinmel Bay and Rhyl caused when the sea defences collapsed during a major storm. Group members saw that reinforcing the sea defences would offer a good opportunity to also install energy generating equipment. Like so many good ideas we were way ahead of our time so that when the sea defences were back in place there was no provision for energy generation.
Since then the group has developed and promoted the idea and concept of tidal range generation. We have been supported by academics and their institutions, notably Cardiff University, private companies from start-ups to global corporations, NGOs such as the Sustainable Development Commission (see Tidal Power in the UK 2007 page 138) and many private individuals. Many of them also thought it was a good idea that would contribute not just electricity generation and sea defences/flood protection but could also provide jobs both during construction and later on maintenance and keeping it running - there could also be jobs in tourism (people would come to look and see something so unusual) perhaps water sports within the controled area or fishing.
Many people have put in considerable time and energy working on technological (how would it work, how could it be built etc) and other questions, speaking at events, arranging public meetings and conferences (many in Rhyl and Kinmel Bay) lobbying the Welsh Assembly Government and central Government departments in Westminster so that the level of understanding has vastly improved compared to where we where 20 years ago. Recent enquires into the Severn Barrage proposals have also thrown up knowledge that can be transfered to this area.
There is still a lot we don't know though we have some good guesses - such as the best size of installation (how big is best?); how much it might cost; how much electricity it might generate; where could it be sited to provide most advantage with least disruption; what additional benefits (other than electricity) might it bring...etc. We think we have some good answers to a lot of questions but we need to make sure. A project like this has a lot of legal responsibilities and legal requirements to get the answers to many questions.
COTE has the opportunity to work with other groups and individuals in the private and public sectors to carryout research work to answer some of these questions. The SEACAMS project at Bangor University has offered to help at very little cost to us - but we are short of money for this and other expences. So far we have relied on our volunteers to put in their time and effort and to pay for any out of pocket expences but a shoestring can stretch just so far. Now we need to raise funds to help towards the research costs (we need to contribute something), towards our admin costs, volunteers expences, and ideally for premises where we could meet the general public and others to discuss the project and make further progress.
We need your support. Please register, ask for more information - we will try and do our best to answer your questions as quickly as possible. This is our only website (remember that shoestring?) so we are very gratefull for this opportunity that energysave.com have given us and all the other energy groups to promote our project and try and make the UK more sustainable.
Energy type
