Wavegen Turbine on Islay Officially set in Motion

BBC Scotland reports this morning that the new wave power turbine at Portnahaven is officially "switched on" by the Scottish Energy Minister Jim Mather. The turbine will feed around 100kW of electricity into the island's grid by converting the Atlantic waves into electricity. Whether the ceremony today was merely the official opening or more is not known to me. Mark Unsworth told me he would be on the site and will hopefully send some more info and pictures. A look at the Wavegen webcam (picture right) showed nothing unusual. A quote from the BBC article:

A turbine designed to be the forerunner of the UK's first commercial wave power station is poised to be officially switched on in Argyll and Bute. The device on Islay is to be set in motion by Scottish Energy Minister Jim Mather. Inverness-based Wavegen plans to install 40 of the turbines off Siader on Lewis in the Western Isles. Mr Mather said: "The Scottish Government is determined to help make Scotland a world leader in the development and deployment of wave and tidal technologies."

The Wavegen installation at Portnahaven with Isle of Orsay in the background

Mark Unsworth from Islay Studios was at the scene this morning and took a few interesting pictures. Click here...

Jim Mather being shown around the new turbine by a member of the engineering team.

Matthew Seed of Wavegen with Jim Mather and a representative of Wavegens's owners Voith-Siemens and a representative from a power supply company.

Jim Mather and Matthew Seed officially switch on the new turbine

Jim Mather and Matthew Seed inspecting the new turbine in the turbine hall, the new machine delivers 100Kw and is much smaller than the previous model which had a smaller output.