Wave farm raises job hopes for Arnish 19/5/11
The Arnish yard will bid to build 40 wave power machines proposed to be installed off Lewis
► Capturing sea energy off Lewis coast
There are high hopes of a manufacturing jobs spin off for the Western Isles after a renewable energy firm won exclusive licences to develop a wave farm off Lewis.
The Crown Estate has awarded Aquamarine Power two seabed leases off the Hebrides.
One is for a 10MW demonstration development between Shader Barvas and Fivepenny in Ness, known as the Galson site.
The other is a 30MW lease granted under the Crown Estate’s recent Saltire Prize leasing round which offers an area of search between Dalbeg by Carloway running up to Eoropie, Ness.
The Arnish yard near Stornoway seems in prime position to pitch to build 40 wave machines which developer Auqamarine proposes to site in the sea off the west coast of Lewis.
If successful, it would secure longer term work for 150 employees -
Auqamarine previously selected Arnish to construct similar wave machines for other developments and is so impressed with the Hebridean workforce’s output that it recently awarded them another small contract.
BiFab chief executive John Robertson told Hebrides News: “We hope to secure the fabrication work though there is no guarantee.
“However, we feel we are in a good position to win a contract because we have already been involved with the prototype.”
Arnish fabricated the metal tubes or ‘cans’ for the Oyster 2 device, which is being
assembled at BiFab’s main site in Methil, and the Arnish yard is now working on the
foundations for a further two Oysters -
The firm has met local landowners over the wave farm plans and will issue a scoping report to planners tomorrow (Fri).
Arnish is already involved in building a prototype wave generator