Consent for Stromness Oyster array

Scotland’s first near shore demonstration wave power array has been approved by Scotland’s energy minister, Fergus Ewing.

Two new Oyster wave energy converters will be added to an existing device at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) at Billia Croo, Stromness, to allow operators Aquamarine Power to test the devices as an array. Each of the machines has a capacity of 800 kilowatts, bringing the total capacity of the array to 2.4MW.

Although the machines are demonstrators, the array will be the first near shore wave array in Scotland to be connected to the National Grid.

Mr Ewing said: “This array will supply more than 1,000 homes with clean energy, and should the demonstrator be successful the technology being developed here will power hundreds of thousands more homes in future.”

The application has been granted subject to the implementation of a suitable environmental monitoring and mitigation plan to ensure suitable measures are taken to protect the environment.