Solar thermal panles on a roof on the Isle of Eigg, Scotland, UK.
The Isle of Eigg off Scotland's west coast, shows the way forward to a renewable future. in 1997 the island was purchased from its fuedal landlord by the Eigg Heritage Trust, a partnership between the islanders, the Highland Council and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. At that point the elctricity was provided by each house haviong a noisy, polluting and expensive diesel generator, as the island is not connected to the grid. In 2008 the islanders decided to turn to a green solution. Eigg Electric was set up and developed a grid for the island with the energy produced by 3 hydro schemes, one 100 Kw and two 5-6 Kw, four wind turbines producing 24 Kw and 2 aarrays of solar panels producing 10Kw, a total of 144 Kw. This is enough to power the homes of the 90 residents. Each is restricted to using 5Kw maximum at any one time. This avoids spikes in demand, which is the curse of all electric grids. The renewables power the island 98% of the time, with diesel generators automatically kicking in when needed. An array of batteries also stores excess production, giving the island a 24 hour backup if everything fails. This shot shows solar thermal panels for water heaing on the roof of the islands visiotr cetnre and cafe and shop.
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Photo credit: © Ashley Cooper / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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