In December 2011, Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing declared that 2011 was a "momentous" and "ground-breaking" year for the renewable energy sector in Scotland.
And yet, it seems that 2012 is off to an even better start, as far as alternative investments in renewable energy resources and facilities are concerned.
According to a BusinessGreen article from 14 February 2012, the Scottish government has granted consent for a wave-energy project at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), continuing the relatively recent trend of exploring Scotland's ocean power potential.
Due to its location, Scotland has an abundance of wind and tidal power, with this renewable energy potential in recent years receiving active support at government level.
Indeed, the Scottish government's website discloses that in 2011 green and alternative investments in the renewable energy sector in Scotland amounted to £750 million.
This level of investment will certainly help Scotland stay on track with its ambitious 2020 renewable energy goals and also, perhaps, to easily meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
One of the most important steps on the quasi-autonomous country's path towards a clean energy future is the Scottish government's Renewable Energy Scheme (known as CARES), which has provided nearly £4 million in loans to help Scottish communities develop their own renewable energy projects.
Additionally, since May 2007 Scottish ministers have granted consents to 45 major renewable energy projects, including wind energy facilities which have become the reason for the recently much-discussed aesthetic discomfort of American billionaire and Scottish golf-club owner Donald Trump.
According to the Scottish government, Scotland produces approximately 48 per cent of the UK's wind output.
Apart from wind power, which is considered to be a more "traditional" renewable energy source, the Scottish government has actively started exploring the potential of wave and tidal energy.
Geography-wise, Scotland is the perfect destination for alternative investments in the marine energy sector.
When it comes to wave and tidal power, the kinetic energy created by movements of water volumes can be accelerated in places with topographical constraints such as islands and straits, thus making the British Isles in general a good location for wave and tidal power generation.
And although to this point in time, Europe as a whole seems to be lagging behind Canada and the United States as far as ocean power is concerned, this is definitely not the case with Scotland.
In March 2011, the Scottish government approved the construction of the world's largest tidal power station, to be situated between the two Scottish islands of Islay and Jura.
According to a Guardian article published at the time, 10 underwater turbines are expected to provide enough energy to power 10,000 homes, which is twice the number of on Islay itself.
In addition, alternative investments in the marine energy sector will be further boosted by a new Scottish wave and tidal fund.
BusinessGreen reported recently that the Scottish government has launched a £6 million fund to help commercialise emerging wave and tidal energy-producing devices.
The purpose of the aptly named WATERS fund is to help Scottish developers as well as supply chain companies capture a larger share of the growing global marine energy market, which the Scottish government believes could potentially generate £4 billion for Scotland's economy by 2020.
Given the developments in recent months with regards to marine power on the other side of the Atlantic, this estimation might turn out to be quite realistic: last November, the United States and Canadian ocean energy bodies released their respective marine and hydrokinetic roadmaps, focusing on the benefits of marine energy.
The last development in the Scottish marine energy sector is the approval obtained by an Edinburgh-based company to install two next-generation wave energy converters off the Orkney coast.
The Scottish energy minister commented that the new installations would help Scotland to fully harness the huge energy resources around its coast and "contribute to global efforts to expand clean, green electricity generation".