Scottish government approves world's largest tidal power scheme

ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) will install ten tidal turbines, each capable of producing 1MW of electricity, off the Sound of Islay. The project will use HS1000 tidal turbines developed by Hammerfest Strøm, a company partly-owned owned by Iberdrola (SPR’s parent company).

The array will generate enough electricity for over 5000 homes – more than double the amount needed to power the island. SPR is currently constructing the first HS1000 device that will go into testing in waters off Orkney later this year.

‘The testing of the HS1000 machine in Orkney this year will help us to finalise our timetable for the demonstration project in Islay, but we will begin work on the project in 2012 and plan to have machines installed as early as feasible during the period 2013 to 2015,’ said Keith Anderson, chief executive of SPR.

The HS1000 device is based on a 300kW prototype, which has been installed in Kvalsundet in Norway for the last six years. The prototype device was the first turbine in the world to convert kinetic energy in tidal waters to electricity and deliver to the grid in 2004.