A Taynuilt-based aquaculture company has played its part in testing a major new marine renewables project now on its way to Nova Scotia.
Workers from Dawnfresh, the UK’s largest trout farming company, used their boats to help install and later remove the PLAT-I marine renewables test platform on Loch Etive. PLAT-I is a multi-hull boat-type structure that has turbines underneath which spin with the incoming tidal flow and generate power. Sustainable Marine Energy is now preparing to ship the platform to Nova Scotia and install it for a second phase of testing in the harsher Canadian climates.
Greig MacPhail, seawater production manager at Dawnfresh Farming, said: ‘We have fish farm sites at Loch Etive so were happy to assist Sustainable Marine Energy with moving its PLAT-I tidal energy platform from its moorings on the loch. It is great to see Argyll leading the way in another marine-based industry. Lochs and the wider marine environment have always been important to the local economy and community and it is important we use these valuable resources as sensitively as possible for the widest local benefit.’ Dawnfresh is one of the UK’s largest producers of fish and seafood working with the country’s largest retailers and food service companies.