Rainy days power Scotland ahead

Scotland can count on its inclement weather, and it is the prevalence of what the Scots call "dreich days" that is helping the nation develop a cutting-edge partnership with Abu Dhabi in green technology.

Workers install the interior of a wave energy converter at the Pelamis Wave Power site in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. Reuters

If anywhere in the world should be good at churning out renewable energy, Scotland should.

A quarter of Europe's potential wind energy crosses its land and surrounding seas, while its position at the end of the Atlantic Ocean "fetch" (the distance the wind blows over open water) produces uniquely powerful waves along the nearly 12,000km of coastline around the mainland and its more than 790 islands.

And if it lacks the sunshine required to light up solar panels, it more than makes up for that deficiency in plentiful, year-round rainfall to fill its rivers to power hydroelectric plants.

Little wonder, perhaps, that the Masdar Institute made Scotland its first-choice nation for collaboration under a research and development agreement to be signed on Tuesday at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The foundations for the agreement were laid last year when Alex Salmond, the first minister of Scotland, visited Masdar and was impressed by what he saw.

With Scotland committed to producing 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources in eight years, Mr Salmond suggested during the visit that Masdar could be a future hub for further developing Scottish low-carbon technology.

"Masdar is a valuable initiative from which we can all benefit," he said. "As countries around the world look to develop more energy-sustainable economies, we need investment and commitment to education, thought leadership and research and development in the renewable-energy sector. Scotland has much to gain from what Masdar can teach us, both now and in the future."

His sentiments were shared by Sultan Al Jaber, Masdar's chief executive, who first proposed a cooperative venture. "As a leading player in both the UAE and the wider clean-tech market, we are eager to work with other, like-minded countries such as Scotland to raise awareness and develop solutions to mitigate climate change," he said.

Simon Puttock, the executive director of the Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) - a group of Scottish universities involved in renewables research and with which Masdar is entering into a partnership - said the agreement reflected the increasingly globalised nature of the drive to develop alternative energy sources and clean-air technology.

"It is really an exciting prospect to be able to work in conjunction with the Masdar Institute, which is rapidly gaining a reputation as a world-class centre," said Mr Puttock, who will accompany Mr Salmond to the energy forum in Abu Dhabi.

"One of the most important opportunities is to be able to engage with companies, either in the UK or UAE or elsewhere, working in partnership with research programmes."

Scotland can already bring a great deal to the alternative-energy experience. The nation produced almost a third of its power from green sources last year.

Ian Bryden, the head of the Institute for Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh - one of the ETP partners - said that while he had assumed Masdar would be most interested in solar technology, as opposed to Scotland's concentration on wind, hydro and tidal power technology, there was common ground in areas such as hydrogen cells and energy storage techniques.

Scotland, he said, could be considered a world leader as far as wave and tide power were concerned. "This is not just in terms of research but in development, too. Many of the world's most significant developers in wave techniques are now Scottish based," he said.

But problems persist over the development of onshore wind farms, mainly because of concerns raised by the environmental lobby.

Last year, the Scottish government, despite its enthusiasm for green energy, rejected plans for a huge wind farm on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides after a lengthy campaign by environmentalists - and despite the fact many locals favoured the development because of the money and jobs it would bring to the island.

"Onshore wind is highly visible - you can't hide it," said Prof Bryden. "It will always have an interesting relationship with the communities where they are sited. Everyone will have to handled on a case-by-case basis.

"The situation is different offshore, and that could offer some exciting developmental possibilities, particularly in deep water, where much of the work is based on experience gained in the oil and gas industry."

But Prof Bryden points out, while wind power is currently the cheapest form of renewable energy to produce, its unpredictability means that, unlike marine energy, alternative supplies are always needed as a back-up.

And the big problem for all the new energy technologies is cost. Where the price of producing power remains high, developers will be unwilling to invest, and where there is a lack of investment, costs will remain high.

It is a conundrum that the new partnership between Masdar and Scotland will do its energetic best to resolve in the coming years.