Orkney is set to become famous for its waves but not necessarily with the surfers. Moves to establish a wave energy test centre on Orkney step up a gear this week with an application for outline planning permission being lodged with Orkney Islands Council on Friday (19th July).

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is seeking outline planning permission from the local authority to set up a test centre which will include four offshore testing berths to the west of Billia Croo Bay and some onshore building work at Billia Croo, near Stromness.

Government estimates predict that in the UK alone, the market for renewable energy technology will be worth more than £1 billion over the next decade, as power companies are obliged to source 10 per cent of their electricity output from renewable sources.

Energy projects manager at HIE, Elaine Hanton said: "Scotland, with its strong winds and stormy waters, is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that the renewable energy sector presents.

"Orkney was chosen as the preferred location for the wave test energy centre and will take advantage of the choppy waters off the west coast of the island.  Other sites that were considered for the test centre were Caithness, two sites in the Western Isles and Islay but Orkney offered the best wave and tidal stream locations and better access to grid connections.

"By locating in Orkney we are also keen to examine ways of involving the wide range of local expertise in renewable energy in the on going operation and development of the centre."

Wind power has already reached an advanced stage onshore but it is hoped that power generated from wave and tidal streams will not be far behind.

This project on Orkney aims to develop a wave energy test centre for the full-scale, long term testing of grid-connected wave energy conversion devices against a continuously measured offshore wave and weather regime.

The development will be centred around four main sites on the island.  There will be a small underground building at Billia Croo which will house equipment including a meteorological recording station and the grid connection to the Scottish and Southern Energy cable and its substation at Stromness.

From the Billia Croo building, cables will be run underground and beneath the seabed to four offshore testing berths to the west of Billia Croo Bay.  From the shore, the only evidence of the testing berths will be the waverider buoys.

Two waverider buoys, to be moored offshore at Billia Croo, will continuously measure the sea-state and video cameras will enable observation of the offshore devices from the disused Coastguard lookout station on Black Craig.

Rooms are also to be leased at the Old Academy in Stromness housing technical equipment, a manager's office and a support and maintenance area for IT and communications. It is from these rooms that the developers of the wave energy conversion devices can access the data coming from their installations and control them through the fibreoptic connections embedded
in the subsea cables.

Developers will also be able to patch signals from the devices and the video to their own offices so they can control their device remotely from many miles away.

HIE is leading the £5.5 million project but potential partners include Scottish Enterprise, Orkney Islands Council, the Scottish Executive, Department of Trade and Industry and the Carbon Trust.

In order to assess the environmental implications of the project, HIE has undertaken several surveys and has sought expert advice from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to ensure the utmost care is taken during construction and in long term operations.

Elaine Hanton explained: "We are working closely with SNH to minimise any potential damage to the seabed or the local flora and fauna.  Obviously any disturbance caused by work being carried out in the area will be repaired and will meet the requirements outlined by SNH."

If the outline planning application is successful, the wave test energy centre could be up and running by summer 2003.