An Orkney test centre is expanding its workforce to meet demand from companies developing machines that harness energy from the sea.
Emec is gearing up for the arrival this year of more devices capable of generating electricity from waves or tidal currents.
With two machines already undergoing sea trials at Emec, five staff are to be recruited to join the 13-strong team running the centre.
Managing director Neil Kermode said: “These are exciting times for us, with our facilities playing such an important role at the cutting edge of marine-power development.
“To keep up with demand, we need more people keen to play their part in building a new renewable-energy industry of huge economic significance for Scotland.”
The MSP for Orkney, Liam McArthur, said that the move showed the speed at which marine renewable energy was developing.
Emec operates the world’s first open-sea, grid-connected test site for prototype wave and tidal energy technologies.
Dublin-based OpenHydro was the first to deploy a tidal turbine at Emec and continues to trial successive generations of its technology at the centre’s tidal test site.
The company estimates that its spend in Orkney since 2006 is approaching £5million. OpenHydro chief executive James Ives said: “In bringing our turbine to the stage of commercial deployment, OpenHydro has relied on the knowledge and expertise of a large number of organisations, businesses and support services in Orkney.”
Oyster, a wave-energy converter developed by Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power, is generating electricity for the UK grid while undergoing a test programme at Emec. The company worked with more than 30 companies from Orkney and Caithness during the installation of the machine in Atlantic waters near Stromness, a project involving spending of more than £1million.
Much of Emec’s own expenditure is already benefiting Orkney and the wider Scottish economy. Emec spent more than £800,000 in Orkney during 2007-08, the latest year for which figures are available and more than £570,000 elsewhere in Scotland during the period.
Emec was established with about £15million of funding from the Scottish Executive, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Carbon Trust, UK Government, Scottish Enterprise, the European Union and Orkney Islands Council.
Recommended for you
