Hammerfest Strom HS1000 Tidal Turbines
The Sound of Islay Tidal Energy project has reached another milestone with the announcement by the Scottish Government that it has given consent to ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) to proceed with the project. The project is the world’s first tidal energy array to be given consent and if testing is successful in Orkney this summer 10 x 1MW devices will be installed just south of Port Askaig in the summer of 2013.
Andy Macdonald, the Islay Energy Trust’s Tidal Project Officer said that he was delighted with the news – “To be the first consented tidal array in the world is a great achievement. It is the result of the combined efforts of SPR, the Islay Energy Trust and the local suppliers that contributed to the Environmental Impact Assessment. Now we can focus on the engineering challenges of the single device deployment in Orkney and start planning for a deployment in the Sound of Islay in 2013 of the ten Hammerfest Strom HS1000 Tidal Turbines.”
It is estimated that the project has spent almost £160,000 on services on Islay so far and this is likely to reach £500,000 by the time that installation is completed. Philip Maxwell, Chairman of the IET, welcomed the successful cooperation with SPR. He said, “What we have achieved together so far with this project sets a new benchmark for corporate – community cooperation. IET looks forward to building on this model with SPR and other developers in the future exploitation of marine energy and offshore wind in the seas around Islay.”
Posted by Andy Macdonald 
