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Isle of Eigg Project Official Handover
Since the beginning of February 2008 the residents on the Isle of Eigg have enjoyed the luxury of 24/7 power, something most of us take for granted. The system generates power from renewable energy sources around the island to be supplied to all residents, through the new island wide high voltage distribution network, supplying 95% of the islands annual energy demand through a combination of Hydro Electric, Wind Power and Solar Energy, which is believed to be the first time that anyone has successfully integrated these three renewable energy sources.
Each of these systems in their remote locations, and the 45 households, 20 businesses and 6 community buildings on the island, are linked to together by 11km of buried cable that forms a high voltage network, linking generation with consumption.
Ian MacGillivray, Managing Director, Synergie said, “The aim of the project was simple - to provide lower cost 24/7 electricity from renewable sources for the islanders. To deliver that within the available budget was a complex challenge. As in all of our successful projects Synergie had the privilege of assembling a strong team comprising the client and users, designers, contractors and project managers and leading that team working together as a cohesive unit. It worked extremely well on Eigg and we hope that we will be able to work together again on some future project in Eigg or elsewhere.”
John Booth, Director of Eigg Electric said, “We would like to thank all the funders for their vision and generosity in supporting our concept and we hope they will agree with us that their funds were well spent in providing the island with this fine electrical scheme. All involved in the project worked as a team and it is to the credit of everyone involved that we have reached this point of handover so smoothly and confidently. The Isle of Eigg now has a robust, reliable and renewable scheme that will serve us well both now and in the foreseeable future.”
Chairman of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, John Hutchison, said; “You can achieve little without good teamwork and we have certainly enjoyed that, between the the Eigg Electric team, funders, project managers, main contractor and subcontractors. Everyone working on the job has played their part and we are very grateful for that.”
Ian Cartwright, Regional Manager, Scottish Hydro Contracting said: “It’s been a pleasure working on the island and we’re delighted that the project is a success with the islanders now enjoying considerable savings on diesel usage.”
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