McConnell announces £6 million boost for wind farm
Scotland’s First Minister has announced that £6 million of public money will be used to support a Scottish consortium planning to construct an off-shore, deep water, wind farm.
£3 million of the money will come from the Scottish Executive, with a further £3 million from the Department of Trade and Industry.
A further £6 million of funding will come from the European Commission.
The consortium, led by off-shore oil operator Talisman and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) plans to construct a deepwater wind farm demonstration project next to Beatrice Field, an existing oil field in the Moray Firth, north east Scotland.
The demonstration project will be used to establish the technical and economical feasibility of the project, which would generate enough power to supply a city such as Aberdeen. The first stage of the project, feasibility studies, had received a £194,000 grant from the Executive and DTI.
It will be the largest off-shore wind farm yet constructed, located 12 miles off shore in around 40 meters of water.
Speaking at a dinner in Aberdeen, Mr McConnell said: “This exciting Talisman and SSE project is technologically and economically challenging, but offers the potential to take offshore wind farm technology to a new level.
“For 30 years Scottish based companies and Scottish expertise have proved that offshore technology can prosper, even in the deep and difficult waters of the North Sea. Utilising the skills and techniques already there in our oil and gas sector can make us world leaders in a whole new generation of renewable energy technologies, including offshore wind, wave and tidal.
“I am therefore delighted that the Scottish government and the DTI have each agreed to provide £3 million to support this project. A project which should see the first electricity being generated in 2006, and offer tremendous opportunities for jobs and construction across Scotland in the future”
The Scottish Executive is hoping to generate 40 per cent of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
The renewable technology will initially be used to power the existing oil station Beatrice and, if that proves successful, the company will move to examining a full-scale commercial project.
Chief executive of Talisman, Dr Jim Buckee, said: “The existing infrastructure at Beatrice offers a unique opportunity to test the feasibility of wind farms in water depths of 35 to 45 metres, while optimizing the value of our existing facilities,”
“We hope to show that it is possible to use offshore oil and gas expertise in the renewable energy business thereby potentially providing new opportunities for investment and employment in the North Sea. The demonstrator project will test technologies for deepwater wind farms distant from the shore, with no visual impact. The results will help determine if large-scale developments of this type are a practical and economic source of renewable energy.”
Whilst welcoming the investment, the Green Party pointed out that the money was not enough to ensure full-scale commercialisation of the technology.
MSP Shiona Baird, said: “We welcome this funding which will go some way to helping realising the huge potential of offshore wind energy. However, as with the recent DTI support for marine energy, this figure falls way short of what is required if industry is to move from research into full-scale commercialisation.
“The two governments can muster only £6 million for offshore wind – a pitiful amount compared to the billions spent on nuclear power over the years.”
