Energy Resources
Oil
It is known that oil exists in the rock strata beneath the Solent, but the reserves are understood not to be commercially viable at the present time. Oil is vested in the Crown, and only those companies granted a licence through the Department of Energy and Climate Change have the right to carry out exploration and production. There are two systems of licensing for oil exploration: one for onshore, including 'bay closing areas' (such as the Solent and Southampton Water) and one for offshore.
In 1984, Shell UK Ltd was awarded a licence to search for oil and gas in the Solent. The company carried out seismic surveys and a series of environmental studies. They concluded that oil was not available in commercial quantities and the environmental constraints on exploration were too great. Two further licences have been issued in the western Solent to Brabant, and Elf Enterprise was granted licences to the west of the Isle of Wight. No progress has been made with these beyond seismic exploration and test drilling.
Renewables
In the future, the marine area will provide an increasing proportion of the UK‘s energy needs from offshore renewable sources of generation – wind, wave and tidal. It will also need to support the expansion of offshore electricity networks to connect these to shore.
There are currently no offshore wind, wave or tidal power farms around the Solent, however in January 2010, the Crown Estate awarded the energy company Eneco a 280 square mile area of the seabed to explore the most suitable place to locate a wind park with an approximate capacity of at least 900MW. Over the past year, Eneco has been appraising the area and has concluded that a project of between 900MW and 1200MW of capacity could be located in the northern part of the awarded area, a site which covers 76 square miles. The porposed wind farm is to be known as Navitus Bay Wind Park.
In 2002, the Isle of Wight Council published a 'Renewable Energy Strategy for the Isle of Wight to 2010' that included a feasibility study of adopting wind and tidal power on the Island.
From 1 April 2010, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is responsible for licensing of offshore energy generating installations including wind farms, wave and tidal devices between 1 and 100 megawatts. Wind farms generating more than 100 megawatts will be licensed by the Infrastructure Planning Commission.
