Marine power developers have been invited to submit outline proposals for projects to be run in the Pentland Firth and surrounding waters.
The Crown Estate, which owns the seabed, made the firth the UK's first commercial marine power site in September. It hopes 700 megawatts (MW) will be generated from the firth by 2020. Scottish Renewables, the green energy trade body, has previously said tidal, wave and offshore wind farms had the potential to generate 1,000 MW of electricity - enough for 570,000 homes - by the same date.
The area that includes the European Marine Energy Centre also has good potential for wave power development.
Initially, projects taking part will use full-size demonstration devices in small arrays, since larger scale development "may well require improvements to the grid", the Crown Estate said, adding that "full scale commercial development will almost certainly require significant investment in the grid".
The Crown Estate said larger scale development may require improvements to the National Grid, while full scale commercial development would almost certainly require significant investment in the Grid.
As per the information available, the invitation for initial proposals extends until December 19, 2008, when a pre-qualification assessment begins. A full "e-tendering" process will open at the end of January 2009 for those organisations passing the pre-qualification assessment. The Crown Estate said today that the tender period would close on April 24, 2009, with a period of detailed evaluation leading up to the announcing of lease offers in the summer 2009. The projects will still need planning permission from the Scottish Government, but it is expected that initial devices could be deployed as early as 2010/11.
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