EnergyFromTheEdge
A conference about sustainable energy, large-scale resource development in remote communities, and more ...
12-14 SEPTEMBER 2007 Shetland Islands
Renewable Energy Projects
The Shetland Islands are surrounded by an abundance of renewable energy resources. The weather conditions provide extremely favourable conditions for producing electricity from wind power. Strong tidal streams flow between the islands and Shetland’s west coast is pounded by the Atlantic ocean.
Commercial Wind Power
Shetland’s only commercial windfarm, ‘Burradale’ has a capacity factor of 52%. That means that it produces electricity at full power for the equivalent of 52% of the year. This small windfarm of 3.68 MW was set up by Shetland Aerogenerators in the year 2000 and produces between 0 and 18% of Shetland’s electricity, depending on power demand and wind conditions.
The success of the Burradale windfarm led to the planning of the “Viking Energy” project. This is a proposed 600MW windfarm in the central and north Mainland of Shetland. Viking Energy Ltd is an equal partnership between the Shetland Community, represented by the Shetland Islands Council, and the power utility, Scottish and Southern Energy. The project is at the design and planning stage, having recently completed a round of public consultation on the project. It is proposed that a planning application for the wind farm will be lodged later in 2007.
Along with the development of the windfarm, the options for an interconnector from Shetland to the UK National Grid are being examined as a means to export the power.
Community Projects
Shetland has a number of smaller community wind projects. 12 public halls have their heating supplied from wind power. These wind to heat projects have been very successful and are being replicated in public halls and community centres over the Highlands and Islands. The project has been led by the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company HICEC . A second phase will look at supplying wind to heat into more public halls in Shetland. The project was managed and installed by local contractors Shetland Windpower Ltd.
The Fair Isle Electricity scheme was the pioneer of community wind power and has supplied the islands electricity and heating demand with renewable energy since 1983. The scheme operates a 60 kW and a 100 kW wind turbine with diesel generator backup. The island gets about half of its electricity from wind power in the summer and considerably more than this in the winter months. The Fair Isle Community has an extremely interesting website about the scheme.
The island of Foula also operated a similar scheme to that on Fair Isle with the addition of micro hydro. This scheme is in the process of being renewed and will eventually consist of hydro, solar, diesel and battery storage to meet the island demand. It is hoped that wind power can be reintroduced to the scheme to make it a fully sustainable system. The main contractor for this project, Malakoff Ltd, whose main work is in ship building and repair, is a good example of a local engineering business able to diversify into renewable energy. The firm has a UK partner, Econnect Ltd, working on the system design.
Hydrogen
The PURE energy centre is based on the island of Unst and specialises in hydrogen technologies and energy storage. The centre has developed out of the PURE project, where a system was designed to supply electricity from wind power. The surplus energy powers an electrolyser to produce hydrogen which is then stored and then used to produce electricity through a fuel cell in times of low wind. The PURE energy centre provides training courses on hydrogen technologies, safety in its use, as well as how the hardware works. More information on this highly innovative project can be found on their website.
Tidal Stream
Shetland has been the location for the testing and development of several marine renewable devices. The Engineering Business Ltd tested their ‘Stingray’ tidal stream generator in the relatively sheltered waters of Yell Sound. The Swedish company Seapower International tested the Exim turbine prototype in Bluemull Sound. These projects have both used Shetland tug and workboat operators, Delta Marine Ltd, in the testing of devices. Delta Marine Ltd operate their work vessels all over Europe, with extensive experience in the offshore wind and wavepower industry. Seapower international built their protoype device at Ocean Kinetics in Lerwick.
Research and Development Projects
Several research and development projects have been undertaken in Shetland and involved local businesses. Shetland Composites produced the 1/7th scale model of the Pelamis device in their workshops in Lerwick. The have also produced blades from composite materials for a tidal stream device as well as major components for wave and tidal stream test tanks on the UK mainland. Another tidal stream device under development is the StarTider device from Starfish Electronics Ltd who have worked with Malakoff Ltd to produce a 'proof of concept' device and are at the stage of raising finance to develop a prototype device for testing.
District Heating
Lerwick has a district heating scheme that supplies heating to local businesses and houses. The islands waste is incinerated before being landfilled, the heat generated is used to heat the water which is then pumped around the town. A feasibility study is being undertaken to look at supplying the waste to heat plant with windpower for its electricity supply and also to look at windpower as an extra heat source for the district heating scheme. District heating is also being considered for some of the smaller villages in Shetland and windpower as a potential source of heat.