News this week

On Tuesday we witnessed the largest waves of the season, at 10 meters high, at Billia Croo, EMEC’s wave test site.

Neil Kermode attended a workshop held by The Strategy Board for Offshore Renewable Energy Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) in Edinburgh at the start of the week, which brought together the key potential players in the initiative. The TIC aims to enable UK industry to deliver on carbon reduction targets faster, cheaper and more efficiently through innovation and EMEC are delighted to be playing a part in this exciting initiative.

An Orkney Grid Working Group meeting, organised by Orkney Islands Council, took place on Wednesday. The main purpose of the group is to ensure that there is sufficient grid capacity in Orkney to make the most of all Orkney’s renewable energy opportunities. EMEC is represented on the group by Neil, who met with representatives from the Council, the National Grid, Scottish and Southern Energy, and marine and wind developers. This was a very positive meeting focusing on how to advance the issues surrounding the grid.

Neil has also recently attended the Renewable UK Marine Strategy Group meeting in London which is helping to shape the industry’s response to government initiatives aimed at driving marine renewables forward.

And today, representatives from Udaras na Gaeltachta, the economic development organisation for the Gaelic speaking part of the West of Ireland, and Bord na Mona, an Irish utility company, visited EMEC, looking to find out more about EMEC’s activities. They are currently investigating the potential of developing the marine energy industry in the West Coast of Ireland.