'World first' as major Scottish energy projects added to Google street view

EVERYONE can now see inside some of Scotland’s most impressive renewable energy engineering sites thanks to a “global first-of-its-kind” project using Google’s street view.

The feature, which lets users of Google Maps see what places are like on street level, has been expanded with 360-degree images ranging from a hydropower plant deep beneath a mountain to the top of a wind turbine.

Scottish Renewables’ Renewables360 project is said to take “the public behind the scenes of the country’s 42,000-strong, £10 billion a year renewable energy industry”.

As well as being collected on an index page on the Scottish renewables website, the photographs appear on standard Google street view, meaning anyone using the search engine’s maps feature will be able to see them.

Sites which are covered by the Renewables360 project include the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm near Aberdeen, the top of one of the UK’s tallest onshore wind turbines, the “hollow mountain” Cruachan Power Station, and Orkney’s Orbital O2 tidal turbine – the world’s most powerful operational tidal turbine.

A view of the Fall of Warness wave and tidal energy technology test site in Orkney (Image: Google street view) The Scottish energy projects now included on Google street view are:

• Cruachan pumped storage hydropower station, Argyll 
• Kincardine floating offshore wind farm, Aberdeen 
• Muirhall onshore wind farm, Lanarkshire 
• Orbital O2 tidal turbine at EMEC, Orkney
• Queens Quay water source heat pump, Clydebank 
• Renewable Parts warehouse, Renfrew 
• Solar EV chargers and battery, Stirling 
• Stirling Energy Centre
• A renewable energy control room, Glasgow 
• EMEC’s wave and tidal energy test sites, Orkney

Claire Mack, the chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: “The energy industry is central to all our lives, but until now the way in which electricity and heat are generated has been something of a mystery to the public.

“With 350 member companies we’re used to visiting the amazing places where clean energy is generated, and Google now gives us the opportunity to share that experience with the rest of the world.”

A view inside the 'hollow mountain' Cruachan power station on Loch Awe (Image: Google street view) She went on: “Some of the places we’ve visited to bring Renewables360 together are truly remarkable. The images which are now available for the world to view are breathtaking and take the public to places they would never otherwise be able to visit.

“Renewables now provide more than 100% of Scotland’s electricity demand. As an industry we believe that’s something which everyone in Scotland can be proud of and should be able to share.

“Renewables360 is one part of that, and this is just the start – as our industry continues to grow we’re seeking more projects to include so that Renewables360 becomes a world-class resource which we hope others will copy.”