Andy Crabb, Filmmaker
Filmmaker Andy Crabb from the Songs of the Scottish Sea project spent two days on Islay working with eight S2 students from Islay High School. The students learned how to use the film gear before putting it into practice shooting scenes for a documentary on The Power of the Sea.
Islay is set to become a world focal point for marine renewables, with the Sound of Islay Tidal Array likely to be the first fully functioning array of tidal turbines in the world. The array will consist of 10 tidal turbines producing more electricity than is consumed each year by Islay and Jura.
Islay already has a history of marine renewable development and is the home of the prototype LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer). The world’s first commercial wave energy device is to be found on the rocky coastline of the Rhinns of Islay near Portnahaven at the southern tip of the island.
The students filmed the huge hulk of concrete that houses the device, set amongst the battered rocks of the Rhinns, and then went to talk to Mrs. Mary Merrall who lives in the croft next to the the device. She invited everyone in for tea and cake, and recounted tales of the building of the LIMPET – Tales of earth shaking dynamite blasting and the unearthly noise of the first prototype built in 1991 that could be heard a mile away in the village.
The young film crew also visited Port Askaig to talk to the Islay life boat crew about the power of the tide in the Sound, and then jumped aboard the ferry to Jura to experience a boat fighting its way across the very same tide that will soon be powering the turbines that will be on the seabed in the Sound.
Islay, an island of stunning beauty, deep history and world famous whisky is now at the very heart of the development of our future energy supplies.
