6: Challenge Specification
6.1 The Saltire Prize is a competition to encourage the development of a commercially successful marine renewables industry. The primary objective of the competition is to bring forward projects that deliver the greatest improvements in all aspects of wave and tidal stream generated electricity.
6.2 In order to achieve the primary objective, the Saltire Prize competition will set a qualifying electrical output hurdle of 100 GWh over a 2 year period, beyond which competitors will be judged on additional criteria; additional output, levelised cost, environmental sustainability and safety.
6.3 The Scottish Government wishes to attract as many viable projects from the widest possible stakeholder group, not constrained to existing wave and tidal developers/technologies. The timescale of the competition has been set with this in mind.
Success criteria
6.4 To be eligible for the Saltire Prize competitors will be required to demonstrate a project that delivers a total electrical output of at least 100 GWh over a continuous 2 year period.
6.5 The Saltire Prize will be awarded by a Judging Panel who will assess each entry's performance against a range of criteria; full details of the success criteria will be available within the application documentation, but key criteria are set out below.
Production of electricity
6.6 The amount of electricity generated above the 100 GWh hurdle over the continuous 2 year period will be considered by the Judging Panel.
Levelised cost
6.7 Levelised cost for each project will be informed by the amount of kiloWatt hours generated during the judged output period and the actual and projected cost data for the project.
Environmental Sustainability
6.8 Environmental Sustainability is defined as the capacity of a project to operate without material damage to the environment.
6.9 Criteria:
- Completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment that meets the requirements of the Electricity Works (Environmental Assessment ) (Scotland ) Regulations 2000
- Performance and sharing of data from any ongoing monitoring required as a result of the EIA
- Calculation of the carbon footprint of each type of wave or tidal device used by competitors and of the project in its entirety consistent with the carbon accounting methodology PAS 2050, as developed by BSI in conjunction with Defra and the Carbon Trust.
- Evidence that the project minimises the environmental impact on key species and habitats (to be defined but likely to include Birds and Habitats Directives and Scottish marine legislation requirements).
Energy Conversion Ratio
6.10 The use of an energy conversion ratio that compares the energy available at a site to the energy transformed by a device will be developed and used as a quantitative judged metric.
Safety
6.11 All entrants will be required to fully comply with all relevant UK health and safety (H&S) legislation, including the provisions for H&S offshore construction work within UK territorial waters defined in the Construction and Design Management ( CDM) Regulations 2007 ( CDM 2007).
Consultation Question
- Bearing in mind the need for the Saltire Prize to have a simple and transparent judging process. Have the key judging criteria been identified? If not, what judging criteria should be applied?