DELIBERATIONS OF 21-05-2008

Date: 20th May, 2008

DELIBERATIONS OF THE MEETING HELD ON 21ST MAY 2008

AT 17:30 HOURS

Present: Sir Norman Browse

Mr B Pengilley

Mrs L Maurice

Miss B Benfield

Mr B Walden

Mr C Williams

Mr I Tugby

Mrs E Bennett

Mr F Dean

Mr J. Richards represented His Excellency The Lieutenant-Governor of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Item l The Speed Trials (Alderney) Ordinance, 2008

The States resolved to approve of "The Speed Trials (Alderney) Ordinance, 2008".

(Proposed by Mr Walden and seconded by Mr Pengilley.)

(Approved unanimously.)

Item ll The Alderney eGambling (Amendment) Regulations, 2008

The States resolved not to annul "The Alderney eGambling (Amendment) Regulations, 2008".

(Proposed by Mr Williams and seconded by Mr Tugby.)

(Approved unanimously.)

Item lll By-Election

The States resolved to approve of the following arrangements for a By-Election:-

That Nominations will be received during

the seven days ending at 4:00pm on 17th June 2008

That Polling day be 28th June 2008

That the Polling Room be the Members" Room, Island Hall.

That the successful candidate will hold office until the 31st December 2010.

(Proposed by the President and seconded by Mrs Maurice.)

(Approved unanimously.)

Item IV Questions and Reports

Miss Benfield reported that the Building and Development Control Committee were currently reviewing the results of the Housing Needs Survey and they would be producing a Green Paper for consideration by the States. Miss Benfield advised that the results of Housing Needs Survey would be made available for viewing on the Government Web Site, at the Library and for purchase from the General Office.

Mr Williams gave the following report on Island Power Generation Strategy [IPGS]:-

"Despite several open days and articles in the Journal initiated by Alderney Renewable Energy Limited [ARE], there are still many misunderstandings in the public"s mind about this project.

ARE first raised the issue of tidal energy power generation with the States in 2003. So the project is not new; the debate is now nearly 5 years old and it will be 6 years by the time the Open Hydro experimental turbines are placed in the Race in 2009.

Why the Race and not the Swinge as originally envisaged? Because the turbine equipment is experimental and needs to be initially placed in the most favourable environment for testing. Extensive surveys at both sites showed that the Race was the more favourable site in which to deploy the test array.

Concern has been raised about environmental issues. These are the mandate of the Alderney Commission for Renewable Energy [ACRE] set up by the States and whose role as regulator includes ensuring that all the necessary environmental, engineering, safety and commercial protocols are met. ACRE seek, and have sought, input on all environmental matters from the public and other interested parties and will give full weight to that input before granting consent for the test deployment.

It is important to stress that unlike the MCT turbine company in which Guernsey Electricity have a financial stake, the Open Hydro design sits on the sea bed with no visible components above the surface, and sufficient water above them to pose no danger to navigation. Thus the only indication of their presence would be a vessel on the surface when the turbines are being installed and for their maintenance.

Why do the States support the project? Because in the longer term Alderney needs power generated that is affordable, sustainable and environmentally acceptable. Alderney Electric Limited [AEL], our diesel engine powered generating station, has served Alderney well for many years. However, it does not meet the 3 criteria! Oil prices continue to rise and so will electricity prices becoming unaffordable for some. Ultimately the oil supply is not sustainable either; and diesel engine exhausts are not environmentally acceptable.

So, at some point AEL style electricity generation will not be as viable and the economy will decline. Conversely, tidal power electricity generation would provide Alderney with the opportunity of affordable electricity from a sustainable, environmentally acceptable source, plus a revenue stream likely to exceed that from e-gaming.

If the project is successful, a cable will be required to transmit the power from the generating turbines to the EU grid early in the project. Why? Because although the electricity generated from tidal flow is very predictable, it is intermittent. Thus it is essential to make connection to a national grid. The same connection can then be used to supply electricity to Alderney from the grid perhaps at prices comparable to those in Guernsey i.e. less than half our present charges. If nothing changes, this disparity will increase.

Finally, Alderney will benefit from a royalty on the production and sale of electricity produced by the turbines whose number will slowly increase. The royalty system being discussed between ACRE and ARE is initially based on the UK Crown Estate model for offshore wind turbines.

Assuming all goes well, there will be four phases:

Experimental turbines: 2009 - 2010.

Designation of blocks of sea to be licenced to ARE: 2010 - 2011

Cable link: 2011 - 2012

Commercial generation starts: 2012 - 2013

Thus tidal energy development is not only an opportunity but a necessity if we are to have affordable power. It is so important to the economic future of Alderney that it is essential that all parties co-ordinate their activities to develop and implement an Island Power Generation Strategy. Following informal meetings with AEL, ACRE, and ARE, the Finance Advisory Group [FAG], will be holding a meeting with representatives from all those parties to develop a Strategy and report to Policy & Finance Committee."

Mr Dean gave the following report on Water Projects:-

" This report is issued on behalf of the General Services Committee, and within the committee the Sewerage and Water Advisory Group (SWAG). The group consists of the States Engineer (Julie Turner) Support Engineer (Martyn Brown) and from elected members Ian Tugby and myself.

The recent public debate about contamination of our water catchments suggested to me that it would be useful to make a statement of intent regarding the proposed projects that are needed to ensure a future potable water supply to the Island that is both plentiful and safe.

Our testing, monitoring and quality control procedures are being constantly reviewed and I am assured that the new automatic treatment and monitoring of our potable water will be fully operational in the next four to six weeks. On-going testing of our raw water sources with any appropriate remedial action will ensure that the water going forward to pre-treatment is of significantly improved quality. The overall beneficial effect of this at the treatment stage cannot be emphasised too strongly.

Over the coming months it is hoped to bring to the States for approval a series of phased projects that will achieve our aims. These projects are neither startling in innovation or design, but are a result of earlier consultative processes, both on and off-island, that direct the route we should take. Water is now at the top of our financial prioritisation list. We now have an engineer in place to progress the work, and there is a total commitment within the States to finally resolve this problem.

I would mention, at this point, that our Water Board management and staff do an outstanding job under very difficult, sometimes almost impossible, conditions, and they deserve the maximum support from all of us.

The first phase of work will deal with the collection of raw water from Bonne Terre and several other locations and provide transfer facilities to our main storage at Battery Quarry. This will involve laying two large diameter pipes underground together with associated valves and control equipment, pumps etc. Whilst technically not demanding the 2.5 kilometre route does involve some difficult digging conditions, road crossings, and interaction with multiple other installed services and will provide some challenges. During this time the existing handling and treatment will continue at Bonne Terre. This phase is at the pre-tender stage and is programmed for this year.

Phase two will establish a totally new filtration and conditioning facility at Battery Quarry with greatly increased capacity and modern treatment and quality monitoring equipment all in one location. The actual bringing on-stream of this facility, whilst keeping water on tap will be a major challenge to our Water Board. The design and detail work for this phase will continue during phase one installation with the intent that the work will follow on in 2009.

The final phase of this programme will be to replace the storage at Trigale with modern tankage, pre distribution monitoring and appropriate pumping. At this time we do not have a time schedule for this phase. And then somewhere in all this we need to look at our totally out of date and totally inadequate distribution system, Island wide.

You will have noticed that my comments have become shorter as I have gone through the projects. There is a very logical reason for this - funding. We are faced with huge demands on our available cash resources and it would not be prudent to make time forecasts beyond phase two.

We have made a start, which after all the years of inactivity, I suggest, is a very good place to be ."

The President offered his congratulations to Mr Willmott and Mr Walden on their appointment as Committee Members to the Guernsey Heath and Social Services Department and Guernsey Public Services.

The President reported that he conducted the opening ceremony of the Salon Culinaire and was very pleased to note the large number of junior entries.

The President announced that Alderney would be hosting the Twinning Celebrations with Beaumont-Hauge on 12th and 13th July 2008, and that the 30th Signal Regiment had accepted our invitation to visit the island during Alderney Week.





Meeting ended:18:05











Issued: 23rd May 2008