One of the most interesting activities of the planning process for the Tidal Energy Project has been the assessment of the marine and shoreline archaeology. Survey work was recently carried out by Dan Atkinson from Headland Archaeology with local support from Susan Campbell. Whilst no new discoveries were found during the surveys, the work highlighted the rich selection of historic maps that are available online from the National Library of Scotland, www.nls.uk. An excellent example is the map of the Sound of Islay between Port Askaig and Feolin from 1882 which can be found at http://bit.ly/Sound1882. Blaeu’s 1654 Atlas of Scotland can be found at http://bit.ly/Blaeu1654.

Dan Atkinson of Headland Archaeology with Susan Campbell

On the engineering side of the project, the design of the tidal device is making good progress. Hammerfest Strøm UK Ltd are planning to install a full-scale version of the device at the http://www.emec.org.uk European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney later this year. The testing of the single device in Orkney will provide the confidence to go ahead with the ten devices proposed for the Sound of Islay. The Navigational Safety Risk Assessment (NSRA) is another important part of the planning process and David Cantello, an independent consultant from Abbot Risk Consulting, has been assessing the potential impact to other marine users. Meetings took place in November and December with CalMac, Argyll and Bute Council, the MoD, the Northern Lighthouse Board and some of the Port Askaig fishermen. Any further comments on the potential impact to marine users would be welcomed by Andy Macdonald at the Islay Energy Trust on 810 873 or email

Andrew Macdonald, Islay Energy Trust, Tidal Energy Project Officer

This story was published with kind permission of the Ileach local newspaper.