fucking northern europe...

...constantly leaving me in jealousy...


SCOTLAND SET TO HARNESS TIDAL POWER
Yahoo News, Sept. 9 2005

ABERDEEN (Reuters) - Scotland aims to generate 10 percent of its electricity from tidal and wave power which would be equivalent to replacing a huge fossil fueled power station, the Scottish government said this week.

Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen said he was making changes to renewable energy support regulations to kick start millions of pounds of investment in marine energy.

"Tens of millions of pounds of support will be available -- with the potential for hundreds of millions to be invested in new wave and tidal projects around Scotland's shores," Stephen said in a statement.

Expansion of the marine energy industry in Scotland could create thousands of jobs, he said.

Scotland is looking to become a center for renewable technology to supplement its oil and gas industry which will eventually decline as output drops from the UK's aging North Sea fields.

Tidal and wave power technology is still in its infancy. Utility Scottish Power and engineering company AMEC have a pilot wave power project in Orkney but there have been no large commercial wave or tidal schemes in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive will change the rules of the Renewables Obligation Scotland, government-backed rules to support green energy, to award additional Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) to wave and tidal output.

Wave and tidal power generators can sell these ROCS to electricity suppliers who buy them to meet their obligation to supply a certain amount of their power from green sources.

The Executive has a target of generating 18 percent of Scotland's power from green sources by 2010, higher than the UK national goal of 10 percent.