Heriot-Watt deploys radar in search for renewable energy

A pilot project lead by Heriot-Watt University’s International Centre for Inland Technology (ICIT) in Orkney has been set up to map tidal currents in the Pentland Firth.

Working alongside the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) in Thurso the project, dubbed RASCAL, will use high frequency radar to map and monitor tidal currents.

The aim of the pilot scheme is to assess the areas precise prospects as a renewable tidal energy source for the future.

The Pentland Firth’s potential for such development is already thought to be extensive. According to Dr Sandy Kerr, lecturer in environmental management at Heriot-Watt, this is due to “its unique make-up: a fast tidal race over a large area, about 36 square miles, with the tides to the west, in the North Atlantic, slightly out of phase with that in the North Sea.”

This means that huge quantities of water flow from the west to the east, and back again, all within a confined space. Due to this vast movement of water, the sea of the Pentland Firth is renowned for being treacherous.

Professor Jonathan Side, Director of ICIT, said: “We know there is a tremendous amount of energy in the Pentland Firth, our knowledge of the complex tidal currents there, and how they interact with waves, is extremely limited, with existing models of the tidal regime in the Firth failing to describe what is really happening.”

It is hoped however that by installing high frequency radar technology in both Caithness and Orkney, RASCAL will be able to solve this problem and identify key areas for the future deployment of tidal generators to best utilise the energy available.

The news of this project follows in the wake of interest in the area from the Scottish Government. First Minister Scotland Alex Salmond recently spoke of the Pentland Firth as having the potential to be "the Saudi Arabia of marine energy."

The team behind the RASCAL project includes leading international experts in the field. They hope to secure the necessary £4-5 million funding to construct a detailed model of tidal flows in the region.

If all goes to plan the Scottish Government hope to have the first renewable energy developments operational in the area by 2020.