News this week
Last week we were visited by Johanna Yates, Policy Manager for Hydro and Marine, Scottish Renewables. Johanna, who joined Scottish Renewables last year working on Hydro policy, has recently also taken on the marine energy remit within the organisation as well. Orkney was one of the first stops on her list to get an overview of current work and future developments planned at EMEC and across Orkney, to inform her new role. Pictured above is Johanna at EMEC’s Billia Croo wave test site.
Other visitors this week included Fiona MacPherson, Inward Investment Executive, and Claire Conway, Head of Infrastructure, from the Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership. We were delighted to welcome Fiona and Claire to discuss promoting more joint working across the Pentland Firth. National Grid representatives Martin Moran and Julian Leslie also saw what was happening around EMEC whilst they were in Orkney to discuss future grid developments. We hope that being able to demonstrate tangible progress with marine energy by showing machines in the water at our test sites will help build the case for further infrastructure investment.
EMEC’s Managing Director Neil Kermode has been busy recently, travelling the length of the country, contributing to marine renewables policy development. He has been taking part in the Scottish Government’s Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS) Marine Energy Group, and representing marine energy on the Technology Strategy Board Knowledge Transfer Network Steering Group, as well as contributing to the UK Renewable Energy Strategy Marine Action Plan.
Aquamarine Power held a very successful awareness-raising event for their Oyster 2 development at the Stromness Golf Club on 17th February. There was an excellent turnout from the local community for both the drop-in exhibition throughout the day and public meeting in the evening. Aquamarine staff gave a presentation on their plans for Oyster 2 – a small 2.4 MW array of 3 Oyster devices. Oyster 2 is the next step in their development from the Oyster device currently being tested at Billia Croo, and Aquamarine are very keen to involve local people at an early stage to make sure any concerns are taken on board.
Last but not least, we are continuing to survey potential intermediate scale (nursery) test sites around Orkney to establish the most suitable locations. Any developers who might be interested in testing wave or tidal energy devices, components, or deployment techniques should let us know as we are currently gathering notes of interest. We will be consulting on the specific facilities we intend to offer at these sites, so it would be helpful to have early input from potential clients. If you would like to note interest, or for more information please contact Eileen Linklater, Client Relationship and Marketing Manager by telephoning 01856 852060, or emailing info@emec.org.uk.
