A NEW project is set to examine the possibility of using Scotland’s vast renewables potential to link local energy generation to local energy use.

The initiative Algal Solutions for a Local Energy Economy (ASLEE) will be discussed at the All-Energy conference in Glasgow next week, organised by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC). It is no secret that the west coast and islands of Scotland have some of the best potential for renewables in Europe – 25 per cent of wind and tidal energy and 10 per cent of potential wave energy.

However, many schemes are constrained or delayed because of weaknesses in the electricity grid and ASLEE will consider how constraints could be removed if more energy was used locally.

The project will examine the technical and economic viability of using renewable energy and grid balancing to reduce manufacturing costs in remote areas.

The conference will also look at the concept of turning rubbish into energy – which IBioIC said could see Scotland move from an oil-based economy to a bio-based one.

Business development manager Paul Hudman, will also introduce Scotland’s “biorefinery roadmap” and detail how IBioIC is helping realise this key tenet of the Scottish Government’s desire to embrace a more circular economy with the broad application of industrial biotechnology.