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Worlds first tidal turbine proves a success in Scottish waters

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

ITV News reported that a tidal turbine being tested for use in the world’s first tidal turbine array in Islay on the West coast of Scotland has proved a success.

The subsea turbine is weighed down on the seabed 50 metres below the surface of a stretch of water called the Fall of Warness. It has some of the strongest tides in the world with an Atlantic swell colliding with the North Sea. Tides in the area can reach up to 8 knots in Spring tides.

Scottish Power Renewables fitted their turbine at the end of last year and it has already been hooked up to the grid and is powering the Orkney Island of Eday. Scottish Power Renewables plans to start development on the ten turbines they plan to install in the Sound of Islay.

That project will be the first of its kind in the world and will provide enough energy to supply Islay’s 3500 homes and distilleries.

SPR chief executive Keith Anderson said “Scotland has the best tidal power resources in Europe, and that’s why we are seeing world leading technologies tested here.”

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Tags: environmental jobs, environmental jobs London, environmental jobs Manchester., environmental jobs uk, environmental recruitment, environmental recruitment agencies, environmental science jobs, graduate environmental jobs, islay, west coast Scotland, wind, Wind turbine
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Offshore Group Newcastle to create 1000 jobs as it enters wind farm market

Monday, April 16th, 2012

BBC news reported that Offshore Group Newcastle (OGN) is to create up to 1,000 new jobs after receiving a Government grant to build foundations for offshore wind farms.

DECC’s Offshore Wind Component Technologies Development and Demonstration Scheme will give OGN £640,250 to build the foundation structures for large wind turbine generators in waters over 30 metres (100ft) deep. The steel jacketed foundation, Triton, will be designed and developed by its subsidiary Aquind, at OGN’s new purpose-built facility at its Hadrian Yard in Wallsend.

OGN chief executive David Edwards said: “We are delighted to have been selected for this grant. Government support is especially vital in the early stages of project development……The offshore wind energy market is crucial to Britain’s future energy needs and we will do our utmost to ensure that this grant takes the UK into an even stronger role as the lead player in this sector.”

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Tags: ., bbc news, David Edwards, DECC, environment, environmental jobs, environmental jobs uk, environmental recruitment, environmental recruitment agencies, environmental science jobs, graduate environmental jobs, Newcastle, Offshore Group Newcastle, science jobs uk, triton, tyne and wear, wind farms, wind turbines
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UK scientists grow GM wheat that repels aphids

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

The Independent reported that the world’s first genetically modified crop that has been engineered to emit a repellent-smelling substance against insect pests is now growing in a small patch of land in the Hertfordshire countryside.

A peppermint gene has been used to engineer a wheat strain that sends out chemical messages to ward off aphid pests. The genetic modification harnesses one of the plant world’s own defence mechanisms, the ability to ward off pests with pheromone odour signals. Peppermint produces a smell, undetectable to humans, which mimics an alarm signal generated by aphids when they are attacked by predators.

Farmers currently have to use pesticides to protect their fields against aphids, which would otherwise destroy up to £120 million of wheat per year.

This crop is not a commercial crop, the idea eventually would be to produce GM wheat varieties that do not need to be sprayed with harmful pesticides. The scientists believe that preventing aphid infestations would benefit the wider environment, including the songbirds that feed on aphids.