A massive marine technology programme in Scotland has had the go ahead.
Six turbines will be lowered into the Pentland Firth to generate 9 megawatts of power. They have 18 metre diameter rotors and weigh 1,500 tonnes each. What kind of a crane do you move them with?
Map of the area from Meygen
And these are just the first.
An 86 megawatt array comes next.
Later, in a further phase, up to 400 marine turbines will be submerged at the site. These will generate some 398 MW. This should power about 42ooo houses – that’s 40% of the Highlands’ power needs.
The turbines sit well below any shipping routes. The demonstration set-up will also be monitored for any effect on wildlife. There are concerns about the effect of turbines on marine mammals such as seals, and other creatures like basking sharks.
Basking shark – huge but harmless
According to The Carbon Trust, wave and tidal resources could provide 20% of the UK’s electricity if fully developed. Scottish Natural Heritage say that Scotland possesses 25% of Europe’s tidal power, and 10% of Europe’s wave power resources.
And that’s not counting offshore wind-farms.
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