THE spin-offs to Caithness from a research-and-development role in marine energy were highlighted at Monday's forum in North Highland College in Thurso.
Public-sector agencies working to counter the rundown of Dounreay believe it represents one of the best sources of hope in the drive to regenerate the economy.
However, Deputy First Minister Nichol Stephen and community representatives agreed that the opportunity needs to be seized quickly if the area is to harvest the benefits of the technology.
The groundwork is being done on the back of a £1 million grant by the Scottish Funding Council to research the potential for marine energy projects in Scotland. Part of this involves North Highland College UHI and Heriot-Watt University examining different devices and the effect on the marine ecology.
The NHC principal Rosemary Thompson said it is hoped to work with Orkney-based EMEC and Caithness-based firms in the design and manufacture of tidal-powered devices in the Pentland Firth. The goal, she said, is to emulate Denmark's success in cornering the market in producing wind turbines.
The development would be complemented by the establishment of a marine energy and environment centre in Caithness.
Mrs Thompson said: "With Government funding for the technical development, I think this can become a reality."
John Farquhar, the Scottish area director of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, pointed out that the Pentland Firth is one of the world's top five sites for tidal energy. He believes the scheme is the only initiative proposed so far on the scale needed to help counter the rundown in employment at Dounreay.
He describes it as a "transformational" project with the potential to create hundreds of jobs.
"It's a unique selling point," he said of the firth's energy potential. "It's a unique attribute that Caithness has and, when the resource is exploited, we want to be at the forefront of the design and manufacture of the devices."
Mr Farquhar also believes the Caithness end of what is envisaged as a joint venture with Orkney would have a key role in plugging the new green energy into the national grid.
The group set up to progress the plans has a target of producing at least 1000 megawatts from the firth by 2020.
Mr Farquhar said: "That is challenging but it needs to be, given the timescale of job losses at Dounreay."
Mr Stephen said it is essential Scotland establishes a lead in the production of wave and tidal energy devices.
He said the Scottish Executive is fully behind efforts to develop the technology, having last month awarded £14 million to progress nine projects in the field.
"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and I think Caithness should be part of that, particularly with the opportunities that exist in the Pentland Firth," he stated.
Mr Stephen said that on a visit to Japan he established that industrialists there know about the potential of the firth.
"My great concern is that they will exploit it before us," he said. "If we leave it any longer than five to 10 years to get our act together, we'll have missed the opportunity and the rest of the world will move in."
He said he will ask Highlands and Islands Enterprise to support the project under way in the Far North.
After learning that a locally-based company did not know about the latest funding round, Mr Stephen pledged to extend the deadline to allow applications from it and any other firms to come in. He explained: "We'll keep the fund open for another three to six months and will try and fast-track any solid scheme which is submitted."
Mr Stephen had earlier heard of two initiatives to create new developments in Caithness from its long-standing nuclear link.
The Highland Council's Caithness area convener, Councillor David Flear, said a bid is being made to make the county the base for the UK's national nuclear archives. The £40 million project, which would also incorporate the North Highland Archive, has the potential to create 20 jobs.
Mr Flear said he is also pressing for the UKAEA to relocate its headquarters from Oxfordshire to Caithness.
The Highland Council, Highlands and Island Enterprise and the NDA have set up a task force to progress ways of diversifying the economy.
They are working to a blueprint produced by the Caithness Socio-Economic Strategy Group which is chaired by local MP John Thurso who, along with MSP Jamie Stone, hosted Monday's conference.
John Thurso said: "We now have the mechanism and funding in place and we're in the process of recruiting people. "We've put the strategy in place and we're now doing the hard bit of turning the mission statement into an actual product, with a bottom line. It would have been lovely if this had happened a year or so ago but it's happening now."
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