Role play
Tanya Weaver talks to Louise Smith about her new role as project manager of the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project
Recognised as having some of the fastest flowing tidal streams anywhere in the world, the Pentland Firth is a stretch of water about 20 miles wide separating the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. In a bid to not only harness this potential energy, but to also revitalise the economy of Caithness following the de-commissioning of the Dounreay nuclear plant, the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project was set up in 2007. The project unites the area’s principal agencies in partnership - Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Highland Council, the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency and the Scottish Government - providing a key point of contact for device developers, investors, utility companies and the supply chain. “The project vision is to support the development of a globally important marine energy industry, to the significant benefit of the local and national economies in a sustainable and environmentally aware way,” explains Louise Smith, project manager of the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project.
Smith, who took up her two-year post in February, grew up in Caithness but left to study civil engineering in London. For the next two decades she worked on large-scale highway and viaduct construction projects across the globe gaining experience in highways, transportation and bridge engineering. In 2004 she returned to Caithness where she has became well known in the area for her voluntary work promoting renewable energy projects. “I wanted to put something back into my community so I spent my spare time promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency locally, highlighting the benefits that a new renewables based industry could bring to the area,” she says. “I believe that this voluntary work gave me an excellent grounding, as well as introducing me to many of the people and organisations that I deal with now through my position on the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project.”
Conference
From 2004 to 2008, Smith was director of the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company (HICEC) and during this time she was also chair of the Caithness Renewable Energy Forum, an organisation promoting interest and economic activity in renewable energy. She has also achieved a high profile through her role representing the Caithness Energy Alliance, which was formed last year to promote a range of skills to compete for work in the onshore and marine renewable energy market. “As the convenor of the Caithness Energy Alliance, I was involved in organising an exciting conference ‘Marine Energy and the Caithness Economy’ held in Edinburgh in February 2008. The First Minister, Alex Salmond, gave the opening address followed by presentations from key figures in the renewables industry,” she says. “Giving the closing presentation at this conference was my last official duty for Caithness Energy Alliance before I handed over to the new chair.”
It goes without saying that Smith is passionate about renewable energy and the prospects that may stem from marine energy developments in the Pentland Firth area. “The Pentland Firth contains six of the top ten tidal energy sites in UK waters and is one of the best tidal resources available anywhere in the world. There is also a significant wave resource in the region, to the west,” she explains. “The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), established in Orkney in 2004, is already working with marine device developers, providing wave and tidal test beds. With support from the local academic and research institutions (the International Centre of Island Technology, part of Heriot-Watt University and the Environmental Research Institute, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute), and also from the diverse and experienced local supply chain, the area has the key elements required to support a marine energy industry.” Additionally, the decommissioning of Dounreay, with its existing skilled workforce, gives the opportunity for many scientists, engineers and technicians to transfer into the marine renewables job market.
So, with a key role of helping to publicise the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project, has Smith received much interest? “The project has seen a lot of interest from marine energy device developers, with many visiting the region to understand how their businesses can flourish here. They have been meeting the local supply chain companies and visiting relevant facilities such as harbours and fabrication shops,” she says. “As well as incoming companies, the local supply chain has been working with us to show support for marine energy developments and this enthusiasm has been well received by visitors to the area.”
However, as marine energy is still a relatively new renewable energy technology, Smith and her team have to make it clear to people that it is still in the development stage. “The build up of an industry here could well be over a five to ten year timescale,” she says. “There is, however, huge potential for marine energy to provide a significant amount of the country’s electricity requirement, with research indicating that up to five per cent of the UK’s electricity could be supplied by tidal stream power. The Pentland Firth has an important role to play in harnessing this energy.”
Special
Although Smith enjoyed her career as a civil engineer travelling all over the world, she is happy to be back in Caithness. “I moved back to the area to give my children a good start in life, based on my experience of being brought up here, in this special place,” she confirms. “My personal hope is that the good quality jobs from marine energy developments, and other jobs that go along with them, will be available to my children when they grow up so that they can bring up their children here.”
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