Extracts from NATTA's journal
Renew, issue 144 July- Aug 2003

5. Scotlands Green Energy Revolution

The Scottish executive has confirmed its target of seeking to generate 40% of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020- twice the overall UK aspiration. There were over 100 responses to the consultation on this proposal, with two-thirds of them in favour of adopting a target for 2020 now. The executive also announced that £2m is to be invested in the new Marine Energy Research Centre in Orkney and it set out plans for a new a high level Forum for Renewable Energy Development to push things rapidly forward.

This followed in the wake of the announcement by Perth-based Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and the Services Division of Glasgow based Weir Group PLC, of a new £10m joint venture investing in the development of renewable generation and control systems. The companies say they aim to ‘stimulate new technologies for wave and tidal energy and other related technologies, through the provision of a dedicated fund’ and ‘will provide funding for, and investment in, prototype and other renewable projects, and may become involved in the manufacture and maintenance of renewable systems’.

SSE will be looking for projects which would would qualify for Renewable Obligation Certificates, while the Weir Group will be looking for the opportunity to increase its customer offering in terms of new products and services. The companies have worked together on SSE hydro refurbishment, and each is now committing an equal amount of money, time and resource to the joint venture which, initially, will run for 3 years.

SEEF not convinced...

The Scottish Energy Environment Foundation (SEEF) has claimed that CO2 emissions will be the same by the year 2020, despite the commitment to producing 40% of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources, because of the decommissioning of nuclear power plants in Scotland and the decision not to replace them. Gary Connor, from SEEF, told the Scotsman, April 7th: "emissions will continue to fall until the 2020’s at which point they will go higher than they are currently unless the source is replaced by nuclear or some sort of CO2-free option, which, to be honest, is a dream and is not going to happen. This may be countered by the Executive looking at providing more electricity than 40% from renewable sources by 2020. Unfortunately, as you build up to higher percentages of renewables, questions are raised about the security of that supply."

Dan Barlow, from Friends of the Earth Scotland, said the emission benefits, beyond 2020, of adopting a 40% renewable target would only be fully realised if action is taken to reduce the growth in electricity use, which has risen by 9% since 1991. Nuclear was not the answer:‘Combining energy efficiency with the development of renewable energy should form the basis of sustainable electricity generation’.

UK’s biggest offshore windfarm - in Scotland

Despite opposition from some local campaigners, ministers have agreed plans to build the UK’s largest offshore wind farm in the Solway Firth, off the coast of Dumfries and Galloway at Balcary Point, almost equidistant from the Cumbrian Coast. The Robin Rigg wind farm is to be built on sandbanks 9km from the nearest land. It will have 60 wind turbines producing 199MW at full power- enough electricity to supply 180,000 houses. The proposal had led to opposition from some local campaigners as well as fishing and yachting groups. Announcing the decision to give the project the go ahead, Lewis Macdonald, the deputy enterprise minister, said ‘The wind farm has the potential to cut our future carbon emissions through renewable energy and contribute significantly to the Scottish Climate Change Programme.’

He added that "The decision to grant consent on this proposal has not been taken lightly and has followed a lengthy consultation process to ensure the Executive’s strategy towards realising natural renewable resources does not come at an unacceptable cost to the surrounding environment. The conditions attached to this consent provide strict standards to safeguard our natural heritage during and beyond the life span of the power station. This proposal will provide clear environmental benefits as well as securing Scotland’s position as a key player in the development of a renewables sector in Europe."

The Scotsman (20/3) reported that Alasdair Morgan, the SNP MSP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, had welcomed the decision and rejected claims by anti-wind farm groups that it would be a blight on the landscape and had argued that "a successful Robin Rigg project will have substantial benefits and will serve as the starting point for significantly greater development of all types of renewable energy, not just energy that comes from wind farms. Potential for significant job benefits exists. Such benefits will arise not only from one project, but from Galloway becoming Scotland’s centre for clean and green energy." He had added: "Going ahead with the Robin Rigg project will not mean covering every hill in Galloway and every inch of coastal water with turbines. However, not going ahead with the project would have meant missing the bus on renewable energy, which would have been a severe blow to the economy of the south-west."

As legislation is required in relation to access rights, a special Holyrood committee has been set up to examine the Robin Rigg Wind Farm Bill, which has cleared the first stage of its journey through parliament. The Scotsman noted that ‘MSP’s are expected to carry out detailed scrutiny of the bill after the election. Scottish Natural Heritage, one of Scotland’s leading conservation bodies, published a report... warning that more research is needed into the environmental impact of renewable technology on marine life’.

The Robin Rigg proposal is the first offshore wind farm plan to come before the Scottish Ministers for consent under Section 36 procedures. The wind farm is owned half by Offshore Energy Resources Ltd, a subsidiary of Babcock and Brown, and half by Solway Offshore Ltd, a subsidiary of TXU Europe Group PLC (in Administration) which agreed in March 2002, to sell its interest in SOL to Babcock and Brown.

Green Aberdeen

Aberdeen city council is creating a limited company with public sector partners to drive forward plans to be the ‘undisputed energy capital of Europe’. The new company would manage and further develop the work of the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group in its quest to secure future employment for the area. The initiative in in part a response to the estimated reduction in oil and gas employment by 10,000 by 2011. Diversification is clearly the way forward and Aberdeen has good prospects, not least because of the work on marine renewables being carried out at Robert Gordon University.

A new plan for a sustainable energy future for Scotland has been produced by SERA, the Socialist Environment and Resources Association, supported by the Scottish Co-op, GMB, WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and Greenpeace. See the Groups section in Renew 144.

Scottish jobs from English wind project

The new Vestas Celtic Wind Technology plant, based in Macrihanish, Argyll & Bute, is to carry out all the offshore work on behalf of Powergen Renewables for the proposed £75m offshore wind farm project at Scroby Sands, 3km east of Great Yarmouth. Brian Wilson, then still Energy Minister, commented ‘This contract confirms the potential of renewable energy projects to create manufacturing jobs throughout the UK. Wind farms in East Anglia will mean prosperity for Kintyre,’

The scheme will see a total of 30 turbines sited at Scroby Sands, producing enough electricity to power 41,000 homes. The company expects to begin work on the wind farm this autumn, with completion by autumn 2004. The turbines will be supplied from Vestas’ wind turbine manufacturing facility on Kintyre, Scotland. Scroby Sands will be the largest offshore wind farm in the UK, and is the first of three offshore windfarm developments planned from the 18 potential sites identified by developers who qualified for leases from the Crown Estate. The other two wind farms to be granted permission are Rhyl Flats, and North Hoyle, Wales.