Orkney - The Energy Islands
The Orkney Islands cover an area of nearly 975 km2, comprising about 70 islands of which 17 are inhabited by a population of approximately 20,000. With 50 years experience in the renewable sector, Orkney is now recognised internationally as having some of the best resources in Europe for the research, development and testing of wind, wave and tidal technologies. It is estimated that the Orkney Islands could generate 18,000 GWh of renewable energy annually and this is reflected in the location of the EMEC wave and tidal test facilities:
- At the Eday site, tidal steams run at up to 4m/sec (8kn) and are among the fastest in Europe.
- The wave test site receives uninterrupted waves from across the Atlantic with 50 year maximum wave height of around 15 metres.
These abundant physical resources are matched by the infrastructure and intellectual capital, built up over the years since Orkney became a key player in the oil and gas industries with the opening of the Flotta oil terminal in the mid 1970's. Academic institutions and enterprising local companies continue to encourage the emergence of a broad spectrum of energy expertise that has been applied locally and exported all over the world. The small island community of Westray, for example, has aims to shortly go 100% renewable with a combination of technologies including a community run biogas facility. The number of local businesses and organisations actively engaged in both community and commercial scale renewables continues to grow with over 80 professionals working directly in the renewables sector and a further 200+ in wider energy related work. Supporting this is the recently established a master's degree in Renewable Energy at the International Centre for Island Technology (located in the same building as the EMEC offices).
A key factor in both the sighting of EMEC and the further exportation Orkney’s energy potential is that the islands are the most northerly community to be connected to the UK national grid. Due to the success of local renewable initiatives, plans are now in place to increase the grid capacity such that Orkney can become a net energy producer to the UK in the near future.
EMEC is also a member of the Orkney Renewable Energy Forum, who work in partnership with Orkney Islands Council in leading a wide ranging debate on the islands’ renewable energy future and endeavouring to ensure that Orkney embraces the enormous potential of renewables with sensitivity and respect for the sustainability of the island community.