West Islay Tidal Energy Farm

The development site lies approximately 6km off the Rinns of Islay, Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland and covers approximately 2 km^2 of seabed. The long term goal is to expand the array. In 2009, a two-year marine mammal and bird survey campaign was commenced in the area. Upon the completion of these surveys in 2011, an Agreement for Lease for the development area was granted by the Crown Estate. The site development proposals are based on a technology neutral approach to minimize development risk. It is not possible to adopt a completely neutral approach given the physical constraints and resources at the site; therefore a design envelope has been developed based on generic design philosophy. The design envelope includes seabed mounted devices that are either surface piercing or non-surface piercing with horizontal axis turbines. The design envelope considers twin and single horizontal rotor devices up to 20 m diameter.

insideclimatenews.org

Project Manager

DP Energy

Additional Information

Project Website

Project Status Is the project actively being planned or is deployed in the water (active)? Or was the project canceled or completed (inactive)?

Inactive

Project Life Cycle Project Progress through life cycle:<ul> <li>Planned: Project has identified a deployment location and is preparing for deployment</li> <li>Operational: Project is deployed in the water and is active</li> <li>Completed: Project was previously deployed in the water</li> <li>Decommissioned: Installation has been fully removed in accordance with regulations</li> <li>Canceled: Project was canceled before being deployed in the water</li></ul>

Canceled

Max Rated Power Capacity The maximum amount of electricity that can be produced by project, based on available resources and device nameplate capacity.

30 MW

Project Start Year

2011

Energy Resource

Tidal

Project Scale

Full-scale

Number of Devices

30

Waterbody

Off the west coast of island of Islay, Scotland

Site Characteristics Geographic characterization for the project location:<ul> <li>Open Ocean: Main body of ocean, not enclosed or partially enclosed by land</li> <li>Coastal: Open water near the coast, spanning between land and shelf boundary</li> <li>Enclosed Bay: water that is partially surrounded by land, with a mouth open to larger water</li> <li>Constricted Channel: A channel where water flows quickly due to narrowing by the land</li> <li>River: Water flowing from land towards a larger body of water</li></ul>

Coastal

Country

United Kingdom

Last Modified

25 June 2025

This Project has the following MRE Devices

Citation Formats

“West Islay Tidal Energy Farm.” Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects, PRIMRE, United States Department of Energy, https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/West_Islay_Tidal_Energy_Farm. Accessed <day> <monthRoman> <year>.

Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects. <year>. "West Islay Tidal Energy Farm." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/West_Islay_Tidal_Energy_Farm.

PRIMRE/Databases/Projects Database/Projects/West Islay Tidal Energy Farm

West Islay Tidal Energy Farm

This Project has the following MRE Devices

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