Islay to be entirely powered by tides

 

 

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Islay to be entirely powered by tides

via Environment news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk by Tim Webb on 8/26/09

Exclusive: ScottishPower is to build turbines in the Sound of Islay that will generate enough electricity for the island's 3,500 inhabitants – and its famous distilleries

ScottishPower is planning a tidal energy project that will supply all the electricity for one of Scotland's most famous islands, the Guardian can reveal.

The company is close to signing a supply contract with Diageo, the drinks group, to provide electricity from the project to eight distilleries and maltings on Islay – including the makers of the renowned Laphroaig and Lagavulin whiskies.

The 10MW tidal project, one of the world's largest, will provide enough electricity for Islay's 3,500 inhabitants for 23 hours a day.

ScottishPower will submit a planning application in the next couple of months and expects the ten 30-metre underwater turbines to be operational in 2011. The turbines will cost about £50m to install.

The tidal waters in the Sound of Islay, the channel dividing Islay from the Jura, move at up to three metres a second.

Energy companies and representatives from the Scottish government will publish on Wednesday a "marine energy roadmap" outlining how to reach the target of generating up to 2GW (2,000MW) of electricity from tidal and wave power by 2020. It will call for more grants and revenue support to enable developers to build commercial scale demonstration projects, such as the Islay installation, over the next two years.

The renewable energy industry admits the techniques to generate electricity from marine energy are in their infancy. Morna Cannon, from Scottish Renewables, said: "This makes it very hard to pin down the costs of the technology at the moment."

Alan Mortimer, head of renewables at ScottishPower, admitted tidal energy is more expensive than offshore wind, which costs up to £3m for each megawatt built and itself is only barely economic. Tidal developers earn more subsidies under the Renewable Obligation Scheme than offshore wind, but only once schemes are operational.

Marine energy developers such as Martin Wright, managing director of start-up company MCT, complain that few investors want to risk their money. But the Islay project has heavyweight backers. ScottishPower is owned by Spanish group Iberdrola and has teamed up with Norwegian oil firm StatoilHydro to develop and finance the project.

There is also strong support on the island, although it is by no means universal. Kevin Sutherland, manager of the Islay group of Diageo distilleries, works at the Caol Ila distillery, which overlooks the Sound. The distillery, like the rest of the island, gets the majority of its electricity from the Hunterston nuclear reactor on the mainland. But the reactor is being decommissioned in 2016 and the distillery suffers frequent power cuts in stormy weather when pylons are blown over.

When the tidal project is built, the distilleries on the island will enjoy a much more secure electricity supply, confounding critics of renewable energy – primarily wind power – who say it is intermittent and unreliable.

One of the biggest obstacles for renewables in Britain has been planning permission. Onshore wind applications are frequently rejected because locals object to the visual impact. Because the Islay generators will be on the seabed, no one can see them and the Scottish government will have the final say on planning.

Operating underwater brings its own problems, says Cannon from Scottish Renewables. George J Gillies is a local fisherman who fishes for crab and lobster at either end of the channel in winter. He complains that his lobster nets could get tangled in the turbines and says the project threatens the livelihood of eight local fishing families. But he seems resigned: "If it's going to generate money, it will get the go-ahead."

The Islay Energy Trust, a community organisation chaired by Philip Maxwell, has been helping to lobby local politicians and opponents of the project. In return, it will receive a small slice of the revenue to fund community projects on the island, such as a swimming pool.

• Wave, tidal and hydropower
• Energy
• Energy
• Diageo
• Scotland
• Renewable energy

Tim Webb

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From Jezebel:

"Breadwinner Wives" Are Still Losing

"We’ll continue to have this kind of blatant discrimination against all women (even those that don’t plan on having children) until it’s equally possible and likely that a man will take parental leave as a woman is to take it. Sweden is on such a path. Couples get to split 18 months of leave any way they see fit. It’s part of the culture in Sweden that men should have just as much responsibility for raising a child as women (they’re not exactly there yet in practice, but they are making significant progress). It’s refreshing, it’s fair, and I think it makes the lives of families here that much better.

Trying to get the birth rate up may be one reason that European family policies are so generous, but it’s certainly not the only concern. Since WWII, most European citizens have come to a consensus that its the state’s responsibility to improve people’s quality of life and to provide a generous safety net. As their country’s get richer, their lives become tangibly better (more vacation time, more leave, shorter work days, free higher education, not to mention health care). In the U.S., our country has become richer and richer, yet it seems that only businesses and the already wealthy in our society benefit. The rest of us work longer and longer hours, pay outrageous amounts for health care (or are tethered to our employers just for the health benefits), pay more and more for higher education, make do with 10 days of vacation, if that, and take almost no parental or sick leave.

You can continue to believe that all of this self-sacrifice is what makes America so prosperous. But what exactly is prosperity if we have a much higher poverty rate in this country than almost any country in Europe? What does prosperity mean to the average worker, if in America you get 10 days off to enjoy that prosperity, but in Europe you get at least 4 weeks? How much better off are we, really, if American men almost never get the opportunity to nurture their own children at the very beginning of their newborn’s lives? I think we can do better."

From a commenter, Yelizavetta Kofman who works for the Lattice Group, on this entry at Matthew Yglesias's blog at ThinkProgress.

Walking on a Saturday

After I finished up answering the un-ringing phone and entering the several packages into the log, I decided to walk home from work. Now, home is in Petworth and work is in Dupont. The walk is about 4 miles and for most people would be pretty easy even though much of it is uphill.

I did fine for the first 2 miles taking pictures and listening to Comfort Eagle until I got to Howard University on Georgia Avenue. And, well, the hills started and my choice of shoes became the apparent fail that it was. So, I stopped by the Banneker Rec Center and learned that DC Public Pools are free to DC residents. And me without my bathing suit.

Partially because my feet hurt and partially because I wanted to get home and get my swimming stuff before the pools closed for the day, I decided to hop on the 70 bus for the rest of the way. A few minutes later, I was walking into my house and tearing apart my closet looking for swimsuit so that I could run out the door down to the Upshur Park pool and get a bit of swimming in.

Working on a Saturday

I am sitting alone in a big building in Dupont Circle. Today, I am the receptionist. One of my many hats.

It's an easy job most Saturdays as the only sounds I hear, other than the music or movie coming from my computer, are the HVAC vents turning on and off and the noises from the streets below. Sometimes it's sirens and honking horns, sometimes it's the subway station bucket drummer trying to earn a buck.

Occasionally the phone rings, but more often than not I end up listening to a computer telling me that this employee or that needs to do something about his car lease or her mortgage. More often I sit here in silence, reading blogs or books or knitting on one of my many, many languishing projects.

While I am grateful for the opportunity to make some overtime, and actually volunteer for this, I am struck by the feeling that I could be doing something better with my day every time I am here.

I really like this cabinet from CB2. I think that if I could mount three or four horizontally at around chair rail height along the far wall of my bedroom, that they would make a great shelf/storage/headboard combo.

Summer Fruit Desserts from Cake Spy

Deliciousness!

My roommate has been making fruit pies all summer. They are fantastiche. I am thinking about going blackberry picking this weekend up in Frederick County. Perhaps a blackberry pie is in my future.

Michael Pollan in Seattle

This, I hesitate to say lecture, but I'm not sure what else to call it, was recorded in Seattle back in the early part of the year. I found it fascinating and actually ended up taking notes on it to read over later.

Mr. Pollan has become one of my favorite people and somewhat of a hero. If you've not read the Omnivore's Dilemma or seen Food, Inc., please do. It's changed the way that I think about the food industry and how I choose what to eat on a daily basis.

pub quizzes in DC

I've been trying to make th rounds of the various trivia nights in DC and the surrounding areas. So far I've been to Stetson's, the Looking Glass which is in my neighborhood and Nellie's. In the past I paricipated in the ones at Saphire, McGinty's and Madam's Organ.

NYTimes: Insured, but Bankrupted by Health Crises

From The New York Times:

Insured, but Bankrupted by Health Crises

By REED ABELSON

Some people counted as medically insured have coverage so meager that a medical crisis means financial calamity....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/business/01meddebt.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://nytimes.com/iphoneinstaller