Firth’s ‘Massive Potential’ for Marine Energy
Posted on: February 5th, 2008 by Emma YoungThe potential of the Pentland Firth for marine energy will be highlighted at a major conference taking place in Edinburgh next week.
The event, organised by the Caithness Energy Alliance, will have First Minister Alex Salmond as its keynote speaker. The SNP leader’s topic will be “Marine Energy – A Vision for the Future”.
Louise Smith, the Caithness Energy Alliance convener explained: “The principal aim of the conference is to highlight and emphasise the potential of Caithness and Sutherland as an ideal location for the development, design, fabrication and export of marine energy technologies, with the appropriate environmental and regulatory justifications.”
She commented that,“The natural and significant energy resource provided by the Pentland Firth, combined with the scientific, technical and engineering skills becoming available as the Dounreay nuclear establishment moves towards closure, could, we hope, be successfully harnessed to create an employment-generating centre for wave and tidal energy.”
Ms Smith believes there is “a huge potential resource” in the Pentland Firth. She thinks that the project could create jobs, boost the local economy and make the area a world leader in tidal energy. However, she stressed that the development needs the support of government to take it forward.
www.caithnessenergyalliance.org
