Interesting guest post by James Ellsmoor, a version of this article first appeared here.
Tucked away in Scotland’s far north is an archipelago steeped in history, its’ sandstone cliffs holding the secrets of Neolithic settlements, Viking raids and… renewable energy?
Orkney is the only place in the United Kingdom that generates its entire power supply from clean energy and has become one the most promising sites for low-carbon energy research in the world (clarification: 120% of electricity on Orkney is generated locally, although occasionally electricity is imported from the mainland grid on calm days). Made up of seventy islands of which less than a third are inhabited, the 22,000 Orcadians who call the island group home long had to rely on the Scottish mainland’s coal and gas power plants for its energy. In 1980, the UK government decided to invest in wind power, designating Orkney as the first place to trial the new alternate power source. Across the British Isles uptake of wind energy was slow, but Britain wasn’t the only European power keen on testing the merits of renewable energy.
Coastline of the Orkney Isles in Scotland, which is harnessing its strong winds and powerful currents to generate renewable energy.
GETTY
Enter Denmark and Germany, who decided to invest millions into developing their own wind energy programs, leading the push for renewables – until now. Today, Orkney is home to 700 micro wind turbines which, combined with 70MW of large-scale turbines, produce over 120% of their electrical needs, the archipelago has become a poster child for sustainable development. The excess energy produced has led to a debate on how to appropriately use it. Although a cable connects to the mainland, it was designed to import energy to the islands and lacks the capacity to export all of the extra electricity generated. Many Orcadians have already traded in their diesel or petrol powered cars for electric ones, and several discussions were had regarding laying down new cables to the mainland to inject Orkney’s energy into the Scottish grid. But then they had an idea: why not turn it into fuel?
I am starting "Island Innovation", an occasional e-newsletter to provide original analysis and a digest of overlooked articles on #SustainableDevelopment for #rural #remote #island areas. I would be thrilled if you join!
Click here to sign up: https://t.co/grLvD2bGkA#susdev pic.twitter.com/ewVdRawR8u
— James Ellsmoor ? (@jellsmoor) March 20, 2018
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