Industry News

Future of UK's green electricity could lie with Norway partnership

Supergrids that allow neighbouring nations to share electricity are tipped to be the future solution to global energy use and Scotland is looking to Norway for help with its low-carbon plans.

A partnership between the two countries is getting underway, with cable route and environmental studies being carried out to build a Scotland-Norway interconnector, which would join UK and Scandinavian electricity grids.

Already the Scottish European Green Energy Centre has provided around £40,000 for early survey work, in addition to a €690,000 (about £553,000) EU grant.

It aims to utilise the two countries' expertise in hydro-electricity, as well as offshore oil and gas.

"The NorthConnect project is an excellent example of the kind of grid interconnection that will be needed across the continent to ensure we maximise the contribution of all European nations to reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels, increase energy security and meet targets for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy generation," first minister Alex Salmond told an international renewables conference in Bergen.

Initial testing of new tidal technology at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney is due to be published. It is the world's first consented tidal turbine array of 10MW.

Posted by Emily Thomas

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