Kettles will be boiling and toasters popping in a small Scottish island today when its 87 residents receive mains electricity for the first time.

At midday the Isle of Eigg will take a long-awaited step into the modern world when its oldest resident, a 90-year-old woman, flicks a switch in a symbolic ceremony on the pier.

Five wind turbines mean that this tiny Hebridean community off the coast of Skye will become completely self-sufficient thanks to what it claims is a unique combination of wind, hydro-electric and solar energy.

As she prepared for the arrival of “Eiggtricity”, Sue Kirk, 51, who runs the island shop, said yesterday: “I’ve just bought a toaster for the first time. I’m going to avoid going on a mad spending spree but with the weather the way it is it’s tempting to get a tumble dryer as well because it’s been raining nonstop since Christmas.”

Until now most houses in this small island, just six miles long by four miles wide, have got by on limited electricity from unreliable diesel generators that pump out clouds of black smoke. Now they will be able to watch television or switch the lights on whenever they choose. They will be able to live without fear of the freezer defrosting. The island tearoom will be able to power a dishwasher, while Mrs Kirk will be able to extend her opening hours.

“It’s a massive achievement,” said Mrs Kirk, who moved to Eigg 27 years ago from Hemel Hempstead. “We’re not going to be connected to the National Grid so we won’t be able to export any power, but all of the electricity is going to be produced here. The fact that it is all from renewables means that we are going to be seen as a role model for the rest of Britain.” Christine Booth, 66, whose husband is chairman of Eigg Electric, the company set up to run the scheme, said: “It’s really difficult explaning to people who aren’t on the island what a difference it is going to make.

“Householders are going to be allocated five kilowatts and businesses and places like the school 10 kilowatts. It means that you can do your washing and you can do your drying and you can also do your ironing, but not all three at the same time.”

Mr Booth, who moved with his wife to the island from Oxfordshire in 2001, said: “Everyone is very excited about this – it makes it possible to have things which should be the basics of civilised life.”

The £1.6 million scheme combines wind, hydro-power and solar power, all feeding into an island-wide grid serving 60 residential and business properties. It has been funded through residents’ donations and a grant from the European Union’s regional development programme, the National Lottery and the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company. Maggie Fyffe, secretary of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, which oversaw the plan, said that uninterrupted electricity would make a massive difference.

Since islanders made history in 1997 by buying Eigg from its absentee landlord in a £1.5 million community buyout, the electricity issue has topped the agenda. After deciding that a cable under the sea from the main-and was too expensive, the community set about organising its own supply.

Bloody history

—The second largest of the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides, Eigg is six miles long by four wide, with an area of 7,400 acres

—Before the Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries, it had a population of 500, producing potatotes, oats, cattle and kelp

—In contrast to many Scottish islands, the population has shown healthy growth since the buyout in 1997. The number of inhabitants has risen from 60 to 87

—The island’s white-sand beach at Laig was used during the Second World War for commando training ahead of the Normandy landing

—Eigg has a bloody history, from clan feuds to the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellions. Of those taken to London as prisoners after the 1745 rising, only two returned

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