providing the user with a complete and new renewable option for running their cars.
The facility is located on Yell that is part of Shetland which is an archipelago of roughly 100 islands. Moreover, the charging point will get its electricity from Nova Innovation’s Shetland Tidal Array. Basically, it is a four turbine installed in Bluemull Sound which strait between the islands is called Unst.
On Monday, in an announcement Nova Innovation described the project as “the first-ever electric vehicle … charge point where drivers can ‘fill up’ directly from a tidal energy source.” Further, this battery storage system has now been deployed to ensure a constant supply for vehicles.
Well, the Scottish government among all is the one that is moving away from internal combustion engine vehicles. Moreover, it is taking the initiative to remove the requirement of diesel and gasoline vans as well as cars by almost 2030. It received funding for the project on Yell has come from transport Scotland, the country’s transport agency.
Scotland’s Power
Fabrice Leveque, the head of policy at WWF Scotland, made an announcement regarding the project on Yell. He said,
“It’s great to see tidal technology being used to help decarbonize part of Scotland’s transport sector in the islands, well placed to continue to lead in developing this technology, which will help to cut climate emissions and create skilled green jobs.”
Leveque went on to mention,
“Our islands have an abundance of renewable resources, including wind, tidal and solar, which when harnessed with care, could bring multiple economic and social benefits to remote and rural communities across Scotland.”
Notably, the water around Scotland is the home for many interesting projects that are focused on tidal power. These involve the initial phase of the MeyGen tidal stem development that makes use of four 1.5 megawatt turbines. The project’s majority owner is London-listed Simec Atlantis Energy.
Though the current footprints remain small, there is large excitement surrounding the potential marine energy. Right now the figures from Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) have highlighted that only 260Kilowatts of the tidal stream can be added in Europe in last year whereas 200kW of wave energy was installed. As per industry body WindEurope, around 114.7 gigawatts of wind energy capacity was installed in 2020.
OEE mentioned that tidal currents, “are caused by the gravitational forces of the sun and the moon.” Also said that the tidal energy influence by “well-known cycles of the moon, sun, and earth” rather than the weather means, “it is predictable hundreds of years in advance.”
The U.K.’s first forecourt devoted to charging electric vehicles unlocked for business in the last December, for example, while the Volkswagen Group wants to considerably upsurge the number of charging services in Europe, North America, and China.
