In Photos: The Fight Against Climate Change in Scotland

April 05, 2020 | Pulitzer Center

Maggie More

Cromwell Road, near the Kirkwall Marina. Kirkwall is one of the two main cities on the Orkney mainland. Like Stromness, the other city, Kirkwall is a harbor town. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

The Orkney Islands are a part of Scotland, and they lie just past the most northern part of the mainland U.K. The islands have been producing over 100 percent of the electricity they need each year, without fossil fuels, since 2013. This series of images shows some of the renewable energy methods used to achieve that remarkable goal, as well as the harbor cities, farms, and island scenery that make the islands so unique.

The Kirkwall Hotel is on the harborfront and marks the edge of Kirkwall Town Center. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

The Kirkwall Orkney Ferry Terminal is where people get ferries to many of the smaller islands around the mainland. Though there aren't many wind turbines near the ferry terminal because the area is relatively populated, wind turbines on other parts of the island are visible from Kirkwall. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

Orkney is a popular tourist destination with several historic attractions. In Kirkwall's Town Center, a sign in front of a barber shop points to the Earl's Palace and Bishop's Palace—ruins near the island's coast—and the St. Magnus Cathedral, founded in 1137. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

A wind turbine on a farm on the Orkney mainland faces one of the smaller islands off the coast. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

The European Marine Energy Center has two test sites, one for wave energy and one for tidal energy. The wave energy test facility and substation is located in Billia Croo, just outside of Stromness. Undersea cables stretch out under the waves to sites in the ocean, where developers can test their green energy technology before commercialization. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

The EMEC wave test site substation at Billia Croo. The green boxes are transformers, that upscale power generated by devices in the water to the correct voltage for use on the island and national grid. None of the renewable energy generated at EMEC goes to waste. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

A view of farms near Billia Croo on the Orkney mainland. Much of the inland portion of the main island is agricultural. Sheep and fields are common sights, as are small domestic wind turbines connected to individual houses and farms. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

The Stromness Town Hall building. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

A view of the water and the other end of the Orkney mainland from the top of a hill in Stromness. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

A view of some farms and the island's coast from Burgar Hill, at the northern tip of the Orkney mainland. Burgar Hill was where research into wind energy was conducted in the 1980s, and is now home to a wind farm with six turbines. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

One of the wind turbines at Burgar Hill. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.

Wind turbines on the Orkney mainland. Image by Maggie More. United Kingdom, 2020.