The project — funded by £650,000 raised by Raasay Community Renewables (RCR) through a community share offer and a further £300,000 grant from SSE Renewables — consists of two run-of-river hydro schemes with combined potential of 137kW, the Press and Journal reports.

As well as powering the island, which has roughly 170 residents, it will also provide income and contribute to Scotland’s net zero targets.

The scheme, designed and built by Bluenergy over a nine-year period, is expected to fund a community benefit payment of £6,000 from 2024, rising to £28,000 by 2031.

Rosie MacLeod, co-chair of RCR, said: “The hydro schemes are transformational for Raasay, allowing us to shape our community’s transition to a more sustainable future and generating an income we can use to support local projects.”

Co-chair Ross Gillies said: “As a tiny community, we have built up a phenomenal skills set and important partnerships in the delivery of our hydro schemes.

“While the priority right now is to ensure the schemes run smoothly, and that we provide the best possible service to our members, we can be ambitious about further opportunities that enable Raasay to contribute to Scotland’s environmental targets.

“What we need is more grid capacity for the connection of renewables.

“We also need the proposed Local Energy Bill passed in Westminster to allow more of the power produced locally to be used by the community.”

Morven Smith, head of community investment at SSE, added: “Communities across the Highlands have been growing their ambitions, and our funding and support is helping them to deliver on their aspirations. We want to support rural communities and regions transition to net zero as much as possible through our Sustainable Development Fund.”