Not Drowning, But Waving

It was quite galling to see a major Scottish player in the nascent wave energy market be completely ignored at home while being feted by the Portuguese government, but that's what happened to Pelamis. That was, until the funding was withdrawn back in March due to the recession.

Still, the sea trials that had already taken place off the Portuguese coast had provided Pelamis with some good experience, and one felt that it was only a matter of time before their sea snakes were deployed in Scottish waters. Particularly when the Scottish Government announced it's £10 milllion Saltire Prize for the first working wave energy generators in Scottish waters.

That time has come, with Pelamis teaming up with Sweden's Vattenfall (why no Scottish energy companies?) to use the devices off the coast of Shetland to generate up to 20 megawatts of energy.

20 MW isn't very big, but it's a start and it's something we should be pumping money into like there's no tomorrow. As I've said previously, we're a bloody island!

Here's a short video of another wave energy device in Scottish waters, the Oyster: