Environment

Scotland to house first UK wave farm

by mudricky | January 22, 2009 at 12:52 pm

219 views | 54 Recommendations | 10 comments

Scotland are to house the UK's first electricity generating wave station.

It will be built on the Isle of Lewis and will power at least 1500 homes in the sounding area and will consist of 40 turbines encased in a concrete breakwater structure.

Ocean waves move air in and out of chambers in the breakwater which drives the turbine to generate electricity.

The Scottish Government are currently processing 30 renewable project applications and has a target of 50% of electricity demand to come from renewables by 2020.

ONE of the largest wave energy farms in the world will be built off the coast of a Scottish island, First Minister Alex Salmond announced today.

Scottish ministers have approved a wave electricity generating station with a four megawatt capacity at Siadar on the Isle of Lewis.

The farm, a collaboration between npower renewables and Wavegen, will create about 70 jobs in the Western Isles, and will power about 1500 homes in the area.

It is one of the first marine renewable energy projects to be approved in the UK.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: "Today's announcement is a significant step in Scotland's journey to become a world leader in renewables.

"This is proof of Scotland's unique opportunities in renewables and evidence that we are already on the way to seizing every opportunity to maximise our natural resources and capability to generate clean, green energy.

"This is good news for the Western Isles and for Scotland but its long-term potential is global."

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Amy Judd

at 13:06 on January 22nd, 2009

This is really cool - good for them.

Karenke4

at 13:11 on January 22nd, 2009

I've not seen this type of energy production before. Good for Scotland for pioneering this! Thanks for the story.

matte

at 19:27 on January 22nd, 2009

Scotland did/is not pioneering it. The technology has been around for over 10 years - developed in Australia.

Scotland is, howver, one of the first places to seriously adopt the technology.

Nigels Best Pics

at 14:19 on January 22nd, 2009

This image was taken on the Isle of Lewis, Hebrides, Scotland close to a prehistoric stone circle.

Nigels Best Pics has contributed a photo to this story.

Uwe Paschen

at 16:19 on January 22nd, 2009

That is good news.

158

at 18:27 on January 22nd, 2009

Three cheers for Scotland.

Sanjay Jha

at 18:39 on January 22nd, 2009

Very interesting concept. I think other countries with similar natural resources should also adopt these kind of practices to meet their energy need.

mtammas

at 19:45 on January 22nd, 2009

I've sent this to a friend in Scotland with strong environmentalist/sustainability connections. I'm curious about a 'local's' thoughts. Thanks for this story.

feorlean

at 13:10 on January 23rd, 2009

The first tidal installation to generate to the National Grid, this experimental is rig is situated off the Island of Eday in the Orkneys and using the facilities provided by EMEC - the European Marine Energy Centre

feorlean has contributed a photo to this story.