News this week

On Tuesday this week we were very excited to have a visit from a group of North Isles Primary Schools. Twenty-three pupils of all ages from North Ronaldsay, Eday and Rousay came to Stromness for a renewable energies day. The morning was spent at the Stromness Community Centre learning about (and making) different forms of energy. They then came to visit EMEC where Eileen Linklater our Client and Marketing Manager gave a talk, before taking them a walk up to the Black Craig (see photo). They were asked to imagine themselves doing renewables-related jobs in future and we found a very enthusiastic group of potential inventors, engineers, mathematicians, managers, environmental consultants, and divers! We were sorry the Papa Westray school couldn’t make it, as they were stranded due to fog. A big thank you must go to all the teachers who helped organise the day.

Further afield, our Commercial Director Richard Morris this week attended the 2009 Ocean Renewable Energy Conference held in Seaside, Oregon. As part of a Scottish Development International delegation, he also met local leaders including Sam Adams, Mayor of Portland who expressed a wish to come and see us at EMEC.

We were also visited this week by Mr Yoichi Oda and Mrs Yoshimi Mizoguchi Owen of Mitsui & Co, global business investors. They visited the EMEC offices, Billia Croo wave test site, and the tidal test site at the Fall of Warness researching wave and tidal activity and potential opportunities in Japan.