Wave energy to power Scottish salmon farm

Marine Harvest Scotland has applied for permission to site a prototype device to its new site near the Isle of Muck.Chris Read, Marine Harvest’s environmental manager told Scottish newspaper the Scotsman that it was a very exciting development with huge potential:

“Our environment in Scotland makes us a natural home for both salmon farming and wave energy and this could prove to be a winning combination.”

Wave power is still in its infancy but devices such as this could offer a solution for producing electricity at remote sites far removed from the grid. Known as the WaveNET, the device will be held in place by 160m mooring legs which will sit within the existing mooring footprint. The generator consists of six individual modules, known as SQUIDs, each able to produce 7.5KW, giving a total of 45KW installed capacity. The device is a prototype which has been developed by AlbaTERN, the newspaper reported.

The site near Muck is one of the planned open sea farm sites, originally unveiled in 2010, which form part of Marine Harvest’s £80m investment programme.