>New research led by the University of Oxford suggests, however, that the maximum that Pentland Firth could produce would be 1.9 gigawatts, with 1 GW a more realistic target.

That is far below previous estimates of 10 GW to as much as 20 GW. […]  The study was less optimistic about the firth’s potential because it took into account factors such as how many turbines it would be feasible to build, how they would interact with each other and variations from tidal cycles.

“Our study provides the first robust data about how much energy it would be feasible to extract,” said Thomas Adcock, lead author of the report and fellow in engineering science at Oxford University.

Pentland Firth could still generate power equivalent to almost half of Scotland’s annual electricity consumption, which amounted to 37 terrawatt hours in 2011, Adcock added. […]<