Fuzzy pictures from my trip here; the first few are from Mallaig, the other end of the ferry link:
e.g. in Applecross on the mainland nearby, they're just finishing installation of a community-funded hydro system. It'll produce 90kW, with an income of about 100k GBP a year going towards the community and small shareholders: http://www.applecrosshydro.scot/
90kW is a toy, though. It's not going to provide energy independence for anyone. Rather more significant is the estate across the loch from my father's village, which is installing 3.5MW of private hydroelectricity: http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2016/06/gilkes-begins-con...
But a 3.5MW plant, if we assume it runs at 100% capacity for a year, is going to produce 0.02TWh of energy, which is about 2 ktoe (kilotons of oil equivalent). In 2015 the UK used 140000 ktoe, of which only about 20000 ktoe are electricity. (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...)
These systems are important locally, but they're not going to run cities.
Edit: misread one of the graphs, corrected the number above. (The stupid graphs all have lines in slightly different shades of bodily function. Maybe they were trying to make a point.)
No, that's the big mostly offshore wind farms. Currently sitting at 12% of demand: http://gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
Energy independence on the personal level is as much of a pipe dream as economic independence. You might be able to achieve it at great expense, but what for? Even on Eigg the islanders are on a little grid.
...but I do need to point out that 12% of electrical demand is about 1800 ktoe, which is only about 1% of total energy demand. We use about six times more petroleum energy that all electrical demand put together.
Scotland already went through a period of energy resource shortage in the 1800s when there were very few trees left. Going back to only locally renewable resources might be like that again.
Tide is one of the few renewable technologies that generates reliable power, and so is suitable for baseline load. Even in Scotland, the wind drops. But it's had very little investment, partly because of a poor reputation from horrific ecological damage caused by tidal barrages in the past, but mostly because wind is sexier.
But plants big enough to actually make a difference are going to be very, very big. Microgeneration is great for small rural communities, but we live in cities these days.
Here's a new 320MW tidal lagoon being built in Wales: http://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/ These only work when attached to a coastline, though.
Can I pick your brains about MSP430FR5994 UART code in assembler at some point please?
TIA
No, but then there's only 83 people to distribute the costs over as well, and a consequent lack of economies of scale.
For instance, from the article, they have four wind turbines, each 6 kW; I'm sure the multi-MW wind turbines used in larger wind parks produce power at a significantly lower price/kWh.
That almost went very Wicker Man