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Islay array tidal energy project given green light by Scottish ministers

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Anyone who has travelled the short distance between Islay and Jura knows how strong the pull of the Atlantic can be in this most intriguing of sounds. The little Port Askaig car ferry often has to head off from the shore at a sharp angle just to make to the other side, because the strength of the tide racing between these two Hebridean islands is so fierce. Now, though, that power is to be harnessed in the world's biggest tidal energy project. Scottish ministers gave the go-ahead today to a £40 million ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) plan which is expected to provide enough electricity for all 3,000 homes on Islay twice over.

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Research work has been going on in the Sound of Islay for the last couple of years, and in July 2010 SPR applied for consent to construct and operate a ten-turbine demonstrator tidal stream energy array, but this has only now been approved. Not only is it expected to keep Scotland at the forefront of tidal energy power, but the development will provide a significant jobs boost for an island community which has struggled because of a lack of employment opportunities over recent years. Finance secretary John Swinney determined the application for the 10 megawatt facility, as it is in energy minister Jim Mather's Argyll and Bute constituency. "With around a quarter of Europe's potential tidal energy resource and a tenth of the wave capacity," Mr Swinney said, "Scotland's seas have unrivalled potential to generate green energy, create new, low-carbon jobs, and bring billions of pounds of investment to Scotland. This development – the largest tidal array in the world – does just that and will be a milestone in the global development of tidal energy. "[The] ScottishPower Renewables array will work in harmony with the environment and use the power of the tides in the Sound of Islay to generate enough green energy to power double the number of homes on Islay. There is simply nothing like it consented anywhere else in the world." SPR is also entering its tidal farm in the Pentland Firth – between Caithness and Orkney – into the £10 million Saltire Prize for marine energy innovation. First minister Alex Salmond met SPR and Hammerfest Strøm (a company jointly owned by SPR and Norwegian energy companies) in Norway last year. Hammerfest Strøm is developing one of the world's most advanced tidal turbines, the HS1000, which will be used in the Sound of Islay development. Burntisland Fabrications Limited has a £2 million contract to build the turbines. The Scottish government's target is to meet 80 per cent of electricity demand from renewables by 2020. In 2009, 27 per cent of electricity demand came from renewables.

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