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Orkney Islands

Latest news from the Orkney Islands

Significant job creation is being generated by the drive to harvest energy from the seas around Scotland. As developers get closer to producing commercial-scale power from waves and tidal currents, their efforts are already benefiting coastal communities in the Highlands and Islands. Orkney-based Scotrenewables has a 19-strong team involved in a range of renewables projects - including the development of a free-floating, twin-rotor tidal turbine for deployment in the waters around the islands. Marine renewables pioneer, Barry Johnston, who created the company six years ago, is currently looking for two more people to join a team he describes as "young, talented and fizzing with ideas."

Kevin Gauld, a young furniture maker from Kirkwall, Orkney, has won a top prize for personal development, distance travelled, at the newly created ‘Jolomo Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) awards ceremony at the Kranenberg Gallery in Oban. In addition to his trophy, Kevin received a prize of £500 and took part in a workshop session with John Lowrie Morrison - Jolomo - one of Scotland’s top contemporary artists. The two other winners were textile designer, Alison Macleod from the Isle of Lewis winning the prize for innovation and creativity and Nicola Kelsey of NK Photography from Oban who was awarded for commercial awareness.

Smarter Grid Solutions, an Airdrie Business centre based spinoff from the University of Strathclyde has attracted Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Enterprise to invest a combined £300,000 to help connect more renewable energy projects to electricity distribution networks. While it gives both SSE and SE 50% of the Smarter Grid equity, the remainder is split between Strathclyde University and the inventors of the technology, and a further £200,000 - split between S&SE and SE- could be paid out to Smarter Grid Solutions if they meet agreed milestones.

Scottish wave power firm Pelamis has held its Portugal inauguration ceremony for what is believed the world's first commercial wave power farm. A Pelamis machine is in position 5km off the north Portuguese coast, but three of the "sea snake" machines have been assembled in Portugal, one now being towed out to sea and a further machine currently in port. Control of the machines is from Leith, Edinburgh with work on software to link to utility companies. Where Pelamis has used smaller tow ships, another ocean energy player, OpenHydro has invested in a specially built twin hulled barge with three power winches for mounting its tidal turbine on the seabed of Eday.

OpenHydro's tidal scheme has taken a significant step forward this week when it began generating electricity on to the National Grid and has become Scotland's first grid-connected tidal device to produce electricity from the tides. The device is installed at the European Marine Energy Centre's (EMEC) test site at the Fall of Warness, off the island of Eday in Orkney. EMEC's role is to support the development of wave and tidal energy devices and to aid the evolution of the technology from the prototype stage into the commercial market place.

A new Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2007-2013 backed by a nearly Â£800m subsidy scheme, is in one key part, only accessible online. It has been dubbed as â€œa recognised strategyâ€ to make it difficult for small operators to bid for funding, (as it is much easier to administer a smaller number of large bids from farming businesses.) Ironically of the critical 32 Rural Priorities, Priority 25 is Public Access Priorities. "These priorities focus on public access provision with a particular emphasis on creation, improvement and promotion through various means. "
But not apparently for the SRDP.

The Western Isles has followed in the footsteps of the Orkney Islands by building a special website for local migrant workers. In Orkney, an office cleaner worker Malgorzata Walter at Voluntary Action Orkney undertook the text translation into Polish. In the Outer Hebrides, Russian Ludmila Macleod who lives in Achmore recently establish a consultancy business Europlan Britain, after being involved voluntarily in assisting the growing number of Eastern Europeans adjust to their new environment in the Outer Hebrides.

The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney which won a major architecture prize last year and the Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick are two museums on Scottish islands in the running for one the UK's most prestigious art prizes being among ten museums shortlisted. Formerly known as the Gulbenkian Prize, the winner of the Ã‚Â£100,000 award is due to be announced in May. Both of the Scottish museums were commended for housing collections in interesting locations.

As with any world-wide energy commodity, political forces beneath the surface are, according to author Mary Anne Simpson writing in Physics.org.com rife with debate on the technology in Scotland. The abundant oil deposits, fishing waters and ever present UK taxation weighs heavily in the mind of average Scots. The backers of the new wave energy technology while in agreement on the importance of the renewable energy development, differ on the significance of it to reduce the strings that bind Scotland to the UK.

An increasing amount of work-related material, has some companies turning to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to improve productivity. At the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) division in Orkney, Scotland, the IT department has significantly cut down on e-mail overload with a NewsGator enterprise RSS system, says David Rendall, a computer programmer involved in the project writes IDG News Service's Juan Carlos Perez,

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