HEBRIDEAN: Scotch whisky distilleries to use renewable electricity created by tidal power in the Sound of Islay. Slainte!
c: Visit Scotland
Marine energy company Nova Innovation has announced a ground-breaking project to produce Scotch whisky distilled by tidal power in the Sound of Islay.
Nova Innovation will install a series of underwater turbines between the isles of Islay and Jura in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, creating clean, renewable power generated by the tide that will displace fossil fuels used on the islands, and power local whisky distilleries.
This electricity will be made available to the whisky distilleries — Islay has nine, while Jura has one via a direct connection or through the grid.
The subsea turbines have no visual impact on the landscape, create no shipping or navigational hazard, and work in harmony with the marine environment.
The revolutionary 3MW ‘Oran na Mara’ project – Gaelic for ‘song of the sea’ – follows the success of Nova’s tidal power scheme at Bluemull Sound that has been powering homes, businesses and the grid in Shetland since 2016.
Crown Estate Scotland (CES) has awarded Nova Innovation an Option Agreement for the project which enables the company to start its detailed development.
Mark McKean, Development Manager at Crown Estate Scotland, said:
“Nova Innovation are taking one of the crucial next steps in Scotland’s renewable energy journey. This project is a great example of how a local energy system might work – and we’re hopeful to see more of these types of projects around Scottish waters, creating new developments that will grow Scotland’s blue economy and push us closer to reaching the country’s goal of net zero emissions by 2045.”
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Crown Estate Scotland, which manages marine, coastal and rural assets, as well as commercial property, has provided Nova Innovation with an Option Agreement for the project, which allows the company to commence development work.
If all goes to plan, the project could be up and running by 2022.
The waters around Scotland boast a range of interesting projects focused on marine energy.
The archipelago of Orkney, for instance, is home to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), where wave and tidal energy developers can test and assess their tech in the open sea.
The International Energy Agency has said that “electricity generation from marine technologies” grew by an estimated 13% in 2019.
While this is a positive, the IEA adds that policies which promote research and development “are needed to achieve further cost reductions and large-scale development.”
Breaking things down to focus solely on tidal and wave power, in 2019 just 1.52 MW of tidal stream capacity was added in Europe, according to Ocean Energy Europe. For wave energy, additions were 0.6 MW.
To put these figures into context, industry body WindEurope says 2019 saw Europe install 15.4 gigawatts of wind power capacity.
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