This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

You would think, given recent news of the Scottish Government’s dropping of funding of Wave Energy Scotland, that it was all over for wave energy. All that vast, rolling energy rolling crashing off our shores, or anywhere else, is to be given up.

After decades of trying to develop it, it’s not worth the investment. All that promise and it simply isn't going to be the big deal that Alex Salmond once thought it would be.

But in Orkney they don’t think it is yet over. In fact, they think that what’s needed is further commitment to a wave energy cluster there. Whatever happens with Wave Energy Scotland, and its funding, they point out, the waves are still there, as is the wave energy potential.

Scottish Greens Cllr and Holyrood election candidate Kristopher Leask is urging the Scottish Government to give it a rethink.

Following the news that Scottish Government intend to cease funding Wave Energy Scotland (WES), Cllr Leask commented; “The Scottish Government’s decision to defund Wave Energy Scotland isn’t welcome, but it provides us an opportunity to do what should have been done when WES was established. Wave energy has the potential to provide jobs, supply chain development, and population growth in Orkney and Northern Scotland. The Scottish Government cannot give up on this ambition which we have seen delivered in Orkney so successfully.”

In Orkney there is, Cllr Leask said: “a world leading skilled supply chain, the global hub for testing and development at EMEC, and a cluster of locally owned businesses exemplifying the potential that marine energy has in delivering high quality green jobs.”

All of which are why he is calling on........

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