BLUEMOMENT

Just heard this on the news
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-12767211
Can't see more info, but it shouldn't stop our fun should it?
Any comments?



Electric soup for all at Port Ascaig.

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A single Hammerfest Strom HS1000 is currently undergoing testing at EMEC's tidal energy site in Orkney and if trials are successful 10 of the devices will be installed just south of Port Askaig in the summer of 2013. The Northernmost turbines will be just to the South of the track of the Feolin ferry to Jura. The devices will be totally submerged and will present no hazard to navigation, although there were been concerns expressed during the planning phase by creel fishermen worried about boats with gear deployed drifting down the sound and having gear become entangled in the turbines.

Islay was chosen because it has a manageable five-knot tidal stream, sea bed depths greater than 20m, port facilities, proximity to the electricity grid and no serious environmental constraints. Local support for the project was almost unanimous, which bodes well for future tidal projects.

The HS1000 unit currently under test in Orkney was constructed in Scotland, but it is not yet clear if the Islay devices will be. A much larger 95-turbine array using these devices is planned for the Pentland Firth - let's hope the construction work comes to Scotland.



(In case you are wondering I just finished writing this as tomorrow's Scots Renewables blog entry - so you have a sneak preview)

Will this annoy the drift-divers? Or will that only be a temporary problem?

Nick wrote:
The HS1000 unit currently under test in Orkney was constructed in Scotland, but it is not yet clear if the Islay devices will be. A much larger 95-turbine array using these devices is planned for the Pentland Firth - let's hope the construction work comes to Scotland.

According to ScottishPower's spokesperson, quoted on the BBC link, yes.

DaveS wrote: According to ScottishPower's spokesperson, quoted on the BBC link, yes.

Well hooray . . . we've lost out big time on the wind turbine front - although Skykon's future at Machrahanish is looking rosier - so let's hope we get in on the ground floor of tidal.