Abstract
Crown Estate Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise commissioned the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult to undertake a study looking at alternative offtake routes for tidal stream energy across Scotland and to begin considering the timelines and challenges associated with these.
Turning tidal-derived electricity into green hydrogen is also explored, identifying major opportunities for decarbonising industries, and manufacturing clean fuels.
The report highlights that energy resilience for remote areas could be improved by reducing reliance on diesel and oil, which are often transported long distances, and notes the economic potential for local tidal projects to employ more people and generate revenues via community-funded projects.
The study examined 30 tidal stream locations around Scotland’s coast, of which 20 were identified as being close enough to potential end users. Various off-take routes were considered viable, including:
- The Islay Project, where green hydrogen company Protium is helping whisky distilleries to be carbon-neutral by 2040.
- Using the Pentland Firth’s tidal energy potential to produce green hydrogen to develop synthetic fuels on the Orkney island of Flotta.
- Replacing diesel generators on Barra and Vatersay with a battery storage system to utilise tidal generated electricity.
The study emphasises that accessing tidal-derived energy in this way is not a substitute for a connection to the national grid, but an additional way to maximise the use of such energy resources. The authors also note the opportunity to re-purpose legacy oil and gas assets for use in new hydrogen and synthetic fuel production and to utilise the skills of people with an oil and gas background.
The report comes against a backdrop of a UK Marine Energy Council target of generating 1 GW of electricity from tidal sources by 2035, with 700 MW of that identified as coming from projects in Scotland.