Wind energy
The Meteorological office and stakeholders are currently monitoring wind in Jersey's territorial waters. This will tell us more about the potential for wind energy for Jersey and inform future planning. Weather monitoring equipment is set up on rocks three kilometres from the main island of the Écréhous and six kilometres from the main island of the Minquiers.
The project will give information on wind resources around our waters. This will help inform discussions about harnessing wind energy in the future.
The data will also help with:
- forecasting the weather
- checking the forecasts
- improving safety at sea
In future, it is hoped information will be updated online hourly. This will allow mariners to check wind information before they head out to sea.
The first masts and communications kit were put in place at the end of September 2013. Since then wind data has been successfully collected and sent via GSM to Jersey Met.
Tidal power
Between 2009 and 2013 the Renewable Energy Commission carried out feasibility work into offshore renewable energy. Details are in the Tidal power for Jersey - the next steps report.
In 2017 further feasibility work was carried out to reassess progress in the tidal stream industry and the opportunities for Jersey. The Tidal stream industry update found that the industry had not progressed as quickly as hoped.
Tidal stream energy harvesting is still not considered cost effective for Jersey.
As Jersey is not a member of the EU, financial subsidies are not available for offshore renewable energy generation.
Read more about Jersey's current position regarding renewable energy in this factsheet. This factsheet was designed for participants of the citizens' assembly on climate change. Further informatoin is available on climateconversation.je.
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