World's largest wave farm to be built in Scotland

Permission has been given for the world's largest wave farm to be built in the Western Isles, Scotland. The wave farm will be constructed and run by the Edinburgh-based company Aquamarine Power and will be the largest ocean energy site in the world.

The project will see between 40 and 50 of the company's Oyster devices constructed off the coast of Lag Na Greine. The completed wave farm could produce enough energy to power around 30,000 homes, helping to reduce climate change through the use of renewable energy.

However, the construction of the farm can not go ahead until the grid infrastructure is completed. The grid is to be put in place by Scottish and Southern Energy which has said that it is unable to commission the work before 2017 - despite previous estimates of the work beginning in 2015. The grid is needed to provide a subsea interconnector cable, which will connect the National Grid to the Western Isles; allowing the energy created by the wave farm to be accessed by all of Britain.

Martin McAdam, chief executive officer of Aquamarine Power, said: "We believe wave energy presents an important opportunity for the Isle of Lewis. Our development could provide significant economic benefit to the local community. In Orkney, for example, we have spent over five million pounds in the local economy during the installation of the first two Oyster devices and have worked with over 40 local companies as part of our commitment to sourcing much of the services and expertise we require locally."

Support is to be provided for the wave sector by the Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF), which hopes to enable the development of wave-energy products. The £18 million MRCF is designed to help the projects get to the first array stage so that they can be fully developed. The Scottish Government has said that this approach is used alongside an innovation support programme designed to enable technologies that are crucial to the wave-energy sector.

Fergus Ewing, energy minister, said: "Scotland has a world-leading resource and is a hot-bed of innovation and talent, making marine energy an exciting green growth sector. The fact three leading tidal projects in Scottish waters have recently secured funding from other sources ... offers the prospect [to] do something different with the MRCF. We now have the chance to provide much-needed support for other marine renewables activities, while still funding the goal of the MRCF - which is to help commercialise the marine energy industry in Scotland."