World’s first tidal array approved for Islay
March 17 2011
It will allow the installation of 10 turbines capable of harnessing the powerful tidal flows in the area to deliver 10 megawatts of energy, sufficient to power 5,000 homes.
Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power Renewables, said of the scheme: "Today's announcement moves the whole marine renewables industry forward in Scotland and the UK.
The Islay scheme will act as a proving ground for much larger offshore installations, including a 1,600 megawatt array in the Pentland Firth.
The UK is seen as a world leader in tidal energy research but it will be a Norwegian firm, Hemmerfest Strom, who will manufacture the underwater machines.
Scotland is estimated to possess around a quarter of Europe’s potential tidal energy resources and a tenth of the wave capacity.
6 Comments
#2 Posted by Cap’n Gubwash on 19 Mar 2011 at 18:09 PM
Billy, what powers your eco sub ?
#3 Posted by Billy Bathysphere on 19 Mar 2011 at 19:12 PM
Aye, Cap’n, it’s Biomass, ..........but we have to tow it floating behind us in a big bag as the designers didn’t know how to incorporate it into our carbon (capture) fibre hull, but hey! we use the gas from some of that otter spraint to boost power for a fast get-away when we need to.
#4 Posted by Cap’n Gubwash on 19 Mar 2011 at 19:16 PM
That’s utter spraint, Billy, and not very discreet for a submarine, is it.
#5 Posted by Billy Bathysphere on 19 Mar 2011 at 19:19 PM
No Cap’n..............this is utter spraint http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/2724/Portobello_High_School_given_go_ahead.html
#6 Posted by in despair on 21 Mar 2011 at 11:34 AM
Billy, I could not agree more, once again Scotland passes the 'renewables' ball [and the cash] to it's Scandinavian counterparts, who will in turn become world leaders. Well done Scottish Power!
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It’s a Spanish company, Iberdrola Renovables, that owns Scottish Power Renewables, that has commissioned a Norwegian company, Hammerfest Strom, to build the farm and although they have created a Scottish based (Glasgow) company to do this, they have commissioned only £4M of engineering fabrication work from BiFab, a Scottish firm based in Burntisland and Stornoway.
Begs the question where is the rest of the £40M going? With healthy grants from the taxpayer through the Scottish Government to companies involved in the ‘Renewables’ sector it looks like the money will be mainly passing through Glasgow to Norway and Spain with a few, relatively short term jobs in the Scotland and a small stream of Companies Tax revenue along the way.
Looks more like a Scottish subsidy for the Norwegian ‘renewables’ industry to me given that Hammerfest Strom are the ones that own the intellectual design for the turbines while the Spanish funded front that is Scottish Power Renewables have their cash machine ‘de-risked’, courtesy of the taxpayer.
I wonder if this is going to be a repeat of why we don’t have a wind turbine design and manufacturing industry in Scotland.
Mr Salmond, Ms Sturgeon, something fishy here.
Och, well!, periscope down.