Blow up two islands for tidal energy

Scientists have suggested blowing up two uninhabited islands off Orkney to help maximise the potential for tidal energy in the Pentland Firth.

Study indicates that the removal of Stroma and Swona would increase the tidal flow through the firth, which separates Orkney and Caithness, boosting the possibilities for the generation of marine energy.
Research, led by Professor Stephen Salter at the University of Edinburgh, said that vast amounts of energy are going to waste in the Pentland Firth.

It said previous assessments of the Pentland Firth's energy capacity had overlooked the role of "bottom friction" in marine currents. The document says the position of the two islands are "suboptimal" and constrain the tidal flow through the Pentland Firth.



Authors suggest that much of the interior of the islands could be quarried for aggregates, leaving an outer shell that could then be destroyed.

The report states: "Scotland is not short of lonely islands and such a step could lead to considerable benefits."

Swona, the most northerly of the two islands, is famous as the home of a herd of wild cattle, left behind when the last inhabitants left the island in 1974, and recognised as a separate breed in their own right.

Stroma, which had a population of 375 in 1901, was largely abandoned in 1961, although a human presence remained until 1996, when the island lighthouse was automated.



Findings are included in an energy review commissioned by the Scottish National Party, which was completed this year. It is due to be debated at the party's conference in Perth today, although activists claim the destruction of islands will not be supported.

Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat prospective Scottish parliamentary candidate for Orkney, said the report had been met with "genuine astonishment" in Orkney and Caithness. He described the proposal as a "madcap scheme".



But the SNP said it would be unacceptable to destroy the two islands. Rob Gibson, a Highlands and Islands MSP, said it was ludicrous to suggest that his party was about to adopt a policy to detonate the islands.

"Promoting tidal power is one key plank in SNP's renewable energy strategy," he said.

"A scientific musing of Professor Salter on a theoretical maximisation of tidal streams in the Pentland Firth is not acceptable.

"Professor Salter talked of the removal of the islands of Stroma and Swona to swell the potential tidal power. This will not be adopted as SNP policy," Mr Gibson said.