Scotland to Add Three Offshore Wave Energy Projects

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The Crown Estate has given the green light to three wave energy projects in Scottish waters that have a combined generation capacity of 50 megawatts (MW).

Aquamarine Power Limited (Glasgow, Scotland) has been granted permission for 40 MW of wave energy projects off the west coast of Lewis. The first is a 30-MW lease granted under the Crown Estate's recent "Saltire Prize" leasing round, covering an area between Bàgh Dhail Beag and Tràigh Shanndaigh, while the second grant is for a 10-MW demonstration lease for a site between Siadar and Fivepenny, known as the Galson site. Aquamarine envisages deploying up to 40 of its near-shore Oyster devices along a 2-kilometre stretch of coastline, which will generate enough power for approximately 38,000 homes.

The Crown Estate also has given the green light to a 10-MW project off the coast of the Shetland Islands for Aegir Wave Power Limited, a joint venture between Swedish utility Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden) and Pelamis Wave Power Limited (Edinburgh, Scotland). Aegir will deploy Pelamis wave energy converters in an area off the southwest coast of Shetland.

The latest awards bring the total number of marine energy projects running, or in development, around the U.K. to 20, more than any other country in the world. Twelve of those projects have the potential to generate tens or hundreds of megawatts of power, while the remaining eight are test and demonstration projects up to 10 MW in size.

"These new projects see U.K. companies continue to make excellent progress in wave and tidal energy development at a variety of scales, consistent with the dual needs to demonstrate generation technologies further and prepare for future commercial deployment," said John Callaghan, wave and tidal programme manager at The Crown Estate.

Veijo Huusko, Head of Ocean Energy at Vattenfall and Chairman of Aegir, said: "With a rich natural resource, the Shetland Islands have a great opportunity to harness a substantial new marine industry, when the grid connection is available. We are very glad to be cleared to do investigation works."

Scotland is the most active marine energy region in the U.K. In March last year, The Crown Estate awarded leasing rights for 10 projects with a combined generating capacity of 1,200 MW. The projects are comprised of six wave and four tidal projects in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters. For additional information, see March 18, 2010, article - Scotland Awards 1.2 Gigawatts of Marine Energy Projects.

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