A mix of a hydro, wind and solar power has been designed to power the Isle of Eigg for 24 hours a day, seven days a week in an initiative that has taken 10 years to realise. The system has been designed to generate over 95 per cent of the residents’ annual energy demands, so the islanders do not have to rely on its previous energy schemes, including diesel generators.
The £1.6m system will supply power to the island’s 45 households, 20 businesses and six community buildings. The Isle of Eigg, situated in the Small Isles between Skye and the Ardnamurchan peninsula, will link together its system of wind, hydro and solar power by six miles of buried cable that forms a high voltage network.
John Booth, director of Eigg Electric, co-coordinated the project which commissioned Synergie Scotland to manage the project in August 2005. The community bought out the island in 1997, when the residents wanted the entire island to be powered 24/7.
John Hutchison, chairman of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, told BBC News online: "The Eigg Electric team has done an excellent job on behalf of the resilient Eigg community."
The trust raised £45,000 for the project and the islanders brought in a further £30,000.
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Date Published: February 08, 2008
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