Last week I attended the Scottish Renewables Marine conference in Inverness, and left totally inspired. While the talks and networking with the great and good were as expected, it was the winners of the Junior Saltire Award who wowed me.

Both the primary school and senior school teams had designed and built working wave energy converters on a budget of £50 – each of which demonstrated their worth in the FloWave Test Tank at the University of Edinburgh.

The team from Daviot Primary School impressed the crowds with their pendulum-style wave energy converter, with each student giving a bit of the presentation about how it worked.

The students from Alness Academy also showcased their wave energy device, as well as a handful of their other inventions – which included an ROV! They had also developed a tidal turbine, and were asking about how to prevent fish and other animals from going through it – something we’re constantly asking ourselves here at SAMS. Future renewable energy engineers? I hope so! Check out what Energy Voice had to say about this team here.

Both teams were highlighted for their success by Fergus Ewing MSP on his website.

Throughout the event these students had the largest crowds of any of the stands – no doubt inspiring the wave energy industry with their enthusiasm. The passion for creativity and innovation was so evident in these students – the future in science and engineering is bright!