Last year the island installed an array of solar panels as a step towards the dream of self-sufficiency. In the shorter winter days  they  currrently rely on two 25kW diesel generators until the planned completion of a hydro scheme later this year. To preserve their ageing diesel generators, they only run one at a time, so the total power to the island is a mere 25kW, limiting power  to each household.

'We'll be turning out something like 20kW  of water power which would provide electricity when the lochs are full from October until April,' Frank Robertson, a trustee of the Foula Electricity Trust  said. 'During the summer we can't expect any water out of the lochs. Hydro would be the winter energy supply with wind and solar for the summer.'

Five small wind turbines will also be installed each turning out around 6.5kW. When those are completed it is hoped the renewables will provide around 50kW of power, doubling the present supply in a project that should cost around £800,000 mostly from grants, lottery and other organisations' support.

Back in 2000 Foula Heritage worked hard and filled in a variety of application forms and raised a package of funding amounting to just over £5000 from eight sources. They achieved contributions for Phase 1 from:-  Foula Heritage subscriptions, Foula Community Fund, Walls & Sandness Community Council, Shetland Islands Council Millenium Fund, Shetland Islands Council Community Education Dept, The Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Awards for All’, Shetland Enterprise and Scottish Natural Heritage.

Phase 1 funding was used to buy two computers and associated hardware, and during the years 2000 and 2001 Isobel Holbourn and her colleague Sheila set to work to record the island’s natural and cultural history. 

"We opened files on local place-names and sayings, archaeology and agriculture, flora and fishing, crofting and crafts, wartime experiences and wells, birds and boats, the sinking of the Oceanic and the Foula film “The Edge of the World", family history and old stories.  In fact everything we could remember from our own experience and from speaking to older islanders was recorded faithfully.

"One of the bonuses during this period was that we all learned new things about the island from each other, even after 40 years in Foula.   And this is where different skills in the group began to prove useful, particularly Sheila in the environmental and family history fields, and Isobel in dialect and administration.  We shared information regularly and helped each other learn new computer and other skills

"During this first period it became apparent we needed a digital camera and a digital recorder for some of our work.  Further smaller amounts of funding were raised in 2001 to buy these, and we now have a considerable archive of photographs, which we add to constantly. 

"We’ve also begun recording oral history.  [Vsit the website, and work to the end, as the Weather, Life and Bairns pages are enchanting] The trouble is there’s so much material in Foula, and a small population, and we all have busy lives – we just do as much as we can in our spare time."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/
Source: http://www.foulaheritage.org.uk/index.htm
Web:http://www.energyfromtheedge.com/shetland-and-renewables.php