A 100KW wave turbine project off the coast of Scotland has begun operating in what backers hope will be a blueprint for a more significant scheme in the near future.

The Wavegen 100KW turbine, sited off the coast of Inverness, was developed by Voith Siemens Hydro, owners of Wavegen, with support from the Scottish Government's Wave and Tidal Energy Support scheme.

The turbine is installed in Wavegen's Limpet facility on the island of Islay and is the prototype for the Siadar Wave Energy Project, backed by npower renewables amongst others. The Siadar project, under development on Scotland's largest island, the Isle of Lewis, aims to harness wave power from the Atlantic ocean in Siadar bay to generate up to 4MW of electricity, according to the scheme's backers.

"With this new turbine Wavegen has extended the range of application for wave energy plants to include more energetic and hence more economically attractive environments," said Dr Roland Muench, chief executive officer of Voith Siemens Hydro.

The electricity produced from the Siadar project each year could supply the average needs of around 1,500 homes on the islands of Lewis and Harris, according to the company. Work could start on the project next year, if plans are approved by the Scottish government.

Wavegen claims that its Limpet facility is the the world's first commercial wave installation that generates energy for the grid.

The announcement provides further evidence that the UK's marine energy sector is beginning to find its feet. It comes less than a month after tidal energy specialist Marine Current Turbines announced it had successfully fed energy from its SeaGen tidal turbine in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough for the first time. The 1. 2MW turbine is now expected to come fully online later this summer.