Plans for the world's largest commercial wave energy farm have been given the go-ahead.
The Scottish Government has approved proposals which could see up to 50 wave energy devices installed in the waters off the north-west coast of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides.
Developers Aquamarine Power said when fully completed it could produce as much as 40 megawatts of electricity - enough to power almost 30,000 homes.
The company said the project was the largest of its kind in the world to have full consent.
Watch a video animation of the wave farm below.
Video by Aquamarine Power
Chief executive officer Martin McAdam said the Scottish Government's approval for the development was a "significant milestone" for the firm.
Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing announced Aquamarine Power had been granted a licence to "develop the largest commercial wave array in the world" at the All Energy Conference in Aberdeen.
"This is another significant milestone for Scotland's wave sector," Mr Ewing said.
"With 10% of Europe's wave power potential and 25% of its offshore wind and tidal power potential, the opportunities for Scotland are enormous."?
Mr Ewing also used the conference to announce Scotland will be the first part of the UK to have a dedicated fund to help with the development of the wave energy sector.
The £18 million Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF), which was launched last year, is to be used to provide support for the wave energy industry.
Projects will be able to apply for cash from next month, with funding expected to be awarded this summer.
Aquamarine Power is testing the Oyster device at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.
The company hopes some of the devices could be installed in the water along the coast of Lag na Greine, near Fivepenny Borve in Lewis, by late 2017 or early 2018, with more installed over the next decade.
The project depends on further development of the Oyster devices, as well as the necessary infrastructure being in place to connect the scheme to the national grid.
Mr McAdam said: "The goal of our industry is to become commercial, and to do this we need two things - reliable technologies and a route to market.
"Our engineers are currently working hard on getting the technology right and we now have a site where we can install our first small farm, with a larger-scale commercial build out in the years ahead."
He added: "We believe wave energy presents an important opportunity for the Isle of Lewis. Our development could provide significant economic benefit to the local community.
"In Orkney, for example, we have spent over £5 million in the local economy during the installation of the first two Oyster devices and have worked with over 40 local companies as part of our commitment to sourcing much of the services and expertise we require locally."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article