Archive for August 2012
Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference 2012
August 31, 2012 | 
Author Where insights shape the future…
Now in its third year, the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference 2012 is a leading international forum for emerging renewable energy and other low carbon markets. The conference takes place on the 10th and 11th of October at the EICC in Edinburgh.
This year’s high-profile speakers will include Rt Hon. Ed Davey MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change who, having been in office since February this year, will speak about delivering the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), Electricity Market Reform (EMR) and the Green Deal.
The conference programme, detailing the agenda for both days, can now be viewed on the conference website.
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New Wave of Scottish Marine Energy Investment
£7.9 million funding shared between five marine energy developers
Five marine energy developers will share £7.9 million funding to support the testing of new wave and tidal energy prototypes in the seas around Scotland.
The supports marks the second round of WATERS (Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support) funding, enabling Scottish developers and supply chain firms to remain at the forefront of the global marine energy market, an industry that could be worth £4 billion to Scotland’s economy by 2020.
The recipients of the funding, announced by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, include:
- Scotrenewables Tidal Power Limited:
awarded £1.2 million grant towards £9.2 million total project cost to design, construct and install a two-megawatt commercial scale floating tidal turbines - AlbaTERN:
£617,000 towards £1.3 million cost of deployment of WaveNET demonstrator array comprising six SQUID 7.5kW wave energy converters - AWS Ocean Energy:
£3.9 million towards £15.6 million cost to design, build and launch stages of a project to prove the AWS-III WEC at full scale - Nautricity:
£1.4 million towards £4.9 million cost for building and testing of a full-scale, pre-commercial CoRMaT 500kW tidal turbine - Oceanflow Development:
£750,000 towards £1.3 million cost for building and field-testing of quarter-scale prototype twin-turbine tidal energy converter, Evopod TE70
Hydro Electric Power Generation Restarts At Glendoe
Station restarted after three years offline for rockfall repairs
Generation at the 100MW Glendoe hydro electric scheme near Loch Ness, owned and operated by SSE plc, has re-started, with around 3GWh (gigawatt hours) of electricity already being produced and exported to the transmission network.
This follows the completion of the work undertaken at Glendoe to restore power following its interruption in August 2009 as a result of a rock fall in the tunnel carrying water from the scheme reservoir to the power station.
Glendoe’s main operational feature is that it is able to start generating electricity at full capacity in just 30 seconds and can therefore help to meet changes in demand. In a year of average rainfall, its output should be around 180GWh of electricity.
Paul Smith, Managing Director, Generation, at SSE said:
“The work to restore electricity generation at Glendoe has been undertaken in a very rigorous way to make sure that this strategic asset meets its original design criteria and is ready to play its full part in supporting the country’s electricity system for many decades to come.
“We will continue to monitor closely the performance of Glendoe to make sure that the reconstruction work has been fully successful, ensuring sustainable generation at the site, similar to that achieved at our other schemes such as Sloy on Loch Lomond which is still generating power more than 60 years after being commissioned.”
Glendoe Dam and Reservoir photo – Sarah McGuire
Four Marine Energy Firms Vie For £10m Saltire Prize
Tidal and wave power developers enter the Grand Challenge
Two tidal energy and two wave power developers have entered into the race for Scotland’s £10 million Saltire Prize as the competition’s Grand Challenge phase begins.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed senior representatives of the four teams to a Grand Challenge launch event in Orkney, where MeyGen was unveiled as the fourth Saltire Prize competitor, joining Aquamarine Power, Pelamis Wave Power and ScottishPower Renewables.
Three projects will compete in the Pentland Firth & Orkney Waters – MeyGen’s tidal energy project in the Inner Sound, Pelamis’ wave power device at Farr Point and ScottishPower Renewables at Ness of Duncansby with the HS1000 tidal turbine developed by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest. Aquamarine’s Saltire Prize project will see its Oyster wave energy converter deployed off the Isle of Lewis.
The Deputy First Minister said:
“Scotland’s clean energy challenge to the world has helped draw international attention to the planet-saving potential of wave and tidal power.
“With the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney hosting an array of devices, we should not lose sight of how far this vibrant young industry has come in recent years.
“Lease agreements, including up to 1.6 GW of installed marine energy generating capacity in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters, are now in place, major power and engineering conglomerates are investing in various wave and tidal energy technologies and no fewer than 11 devices have been deployed or are in the process of deployment at EMEC, with 14 due there by 2014.
“The Saltire Prize sets a considerable challenge to competitors – reflecting the huge potential of harnessing marine energy.
“The four competitors have stepped up to the challenge, and in so doing can drive each other still further and faster forward, towards the goal of large-scale commercial electricity generation from the power of the world’s seas and oceans.”
Ms Sturgeon also announced a Saltire Prize-sponsored doctorate to study how marine energy projects can be designed to maximise economic energy production while protecting the environment, and launched a junior Saltire Prize photography competition – ‘The Power of the Sea’ – with renowned Scots photographer David Eustace among the judges.
The largest renewables innovation award of its kind, the Saltire Prize will be won by the team that achieves the greatest volume of electrical output in Scottish waters over the minimum hurdle of 100GWh over a continuous two-year period, using only the power of the sea.
‘You’ve Been Trumped’ Showing In Oban
Bouffant buffoon brilliantly bunkered
You’ve Been Trumped (PG) is showing on Tuesday 28th August 2012 at 17:30 in the newly re-opened Oban Phoenix cinema.