Tuesday 23 November 2010

Three renewables projects secure £13m funding

A trio of Scottish renewable energy infrastructure projects were awarded more than £13m yesterday.

The money has come from the Scottish government's Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

In Caithness, £5m will be spent to develop Scrabster Harbour so it can accommodate future wave and tidal energy business.

In Orkney, the HIE plans to invest £2.95m to create six new industrial units in Kirkwall to be used by tidal energy developers at the European Marine Energy Centre test site at Eday.

And on South Uist, community landowner Sealladh na Beinne Moire will receive £5m towards a £9.9m project to create new marine leisure and fisheries facilities, and provide access to land for community and commercial development.

HIE chief executive Alex Paterson said: "These are three highly ambitious projects which HIE believes have the potential both to transform their local economies and make a significant contribution to the region's growth.

"The renewable energy potential of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters forms a major opportunity which the investments in Scrabster and Kirkwall will help to realise.