MJDEC12 Front Cover Story

The 55 tonne bollard pull ASD tugs form part of the 15 vessel fleet operated by Orkney Islands Council Marine Services, located at Scapa Pier outside Kirkwall, on the north side of one of the world’s largest natural harbours, Scapa Flow.

‘The Flow’, as the locals call it, is approximately 115 square miles in area and is the home for Talisman’s Oil Terminal at Flotta. It is the perfect location for ship to ship oil transfers, the location for the world’s first LNG ship to ship transfer, and its calm yet deep waters also provide optimal conditions for marine renewable energy technology test sites.

Erlend, Einar, and Harald are on call all year round to assist with tanker berthings and anchoring for oil port operations as well as for towing a range of marine renewable wave and tidal technologies to and from The Crown Estate leasing sites.

Orkney Islands Council’s strategy is that by 2020 there will a ‘farm’ of marine renewable devices embedded in and around the waters of the Pentland Firth between Caithness and Orkney. There is an aspiration that some 1,000 devices will generate 700MW of electricity, enough to power 420,000 homes.

Orkney Islands Council has grasped the opportunity to provide a marine renewable development base on the front line of this emerging new millennium industry.

For further information contact; michael.morrison@orkney.gov.uk, Photo: Colin Keldie, Email: info@4graphics.com