News / Wave farm boost
THE 10 megawatt Aegir wave power farm, off Shetland, is one step nearer after Wednesday’s decision by the Scottish government to give Viking Energy planning consent for a massive wind farm on the Shetland mainland.
Vattenfall, the Swedish utility behind the marine renewables project, said on Thursday that as a result of the decision their own project had made a “big step” forward.
The approval of the 370 megawatt wind farm triggers the construction of an interconnector to the UK mainland, which is necessary for the pre-commercial development using Pelamis wave energy converters to become a reality.
Development manager Andrew Scott said: “This is fantastic news for the future development of our 10MW Aegir wave farm, and a big step forward to securing grid connection for marine projects in Shetland.
“Shetland and its communities are blessed with a huge marine renewable resource and we are working towards harnessing some of this energy to create a new exciting industry exporting clean power.”
Aegir now plans to ramp up environmental and other site assessments in consultation with the local stakeholders, ahead of an expected planning application to Marine Scotland in 2014.
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