Scottish and Southern Energy supplies electricity and gas to over 10 million customers in Great Britain and Ireland. It owns just over 11,300 MW of electricity generation capacity, making it the second largest electricity generator across the UK and Ireland. 2,370 MW of this capacity is renewable and the power company is firmly committed to rolling out more capacity, including offshore wind.
Back in January for example the company entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Siemens plc, Siemens Transmission and Distribution Limited, Subsea 7 Limited, Burntisland Fabrications Ltd and Atkins, under which the companies will form an alliance to collaborate on Scottish and Southern Energy ’s offshore wind programme, with the aim of securing substantial reductions in the cost of delivered power from offshore wind farms.
The same month, the company confirmed that a milestone had been reached at both the Greater Gabbard (Suffolk, England) and Walney (Irish Sea) offshore wind farms in which it has a stake, with both arrays generated electricity for the first time.
In Scotland, the company was granted exclusive rights to develop offshore arrays in Islay and Kintyre by The Crown Estate in February 2009. According to the company, survey work undertaken so far indicates that the first site, 13 kilometres off the west coast of Islay, is suitable for the development of a viable wind farm. The company says that it remains committed to developing the site although it presents a number of challenges resulting from difficult weather and seabed conditions. “These are not unique to Islay and Scottish and Southern Energy believes that it will be able to apply advances made in construction techniques and the technology being developed for Round Three offshore wind farms to overcome these challenges,” it explains, adding that it expects to submit an application to develop the site to the Scottish Government around the end of 2013.
“Islay has massive potential to contribute to the Scottish and UK governments’ renewable energy targets. Our proposed timetable for developing this site will allow time for the innovative development of the offshore technology and construction techniques necessary to build a wind farm in such a challenging environment,” says Colin Hood, Chief Operating Officer.
Questions about wind resource and local impact
The situation is, however, different at the Kintyre site located in the constituency of Jim Mather, MSP for Argyll and Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism in the Scottish Government, where the company has revealed that initial site survey work and consultations relating to the wind farm planned to be developed 2 kilometres off the west coast have identified a number of factors that have led it to decide not to proceed further with the development of this site. These include: the wind resource; the proximity to Campbeltown Airport and local communities; and the impact on recreational sailing in the area.
“Having assessed the wind resource, listened to the concerns of local residents, businesses and other stakeholders, and having regard to the impact of Campbeltown Airport and the recreational sailing community, we believe our decision to halt the development of the Kintyre site is the responsible course of action to take,” explains Hood, who goes on to say that the company’s plans to develop other offshore arrays, namely Galloper and Beatrice,”are on course and we aim to submit applications to develop these sites within the next twelve months”.
Activists with the Kintyre Offshore Windfarm Action Group secured cross-party support for their campaign against the development and the group's Secertary, Nick Henley Price, is overjoyed about Scottish and Southern's u-turn. He told the Scottish Herald newspaper that the costs of the proposed windfarm far outweighed the benefits it would bring. “It was the potential ruination of the community,” he said. “About 27% of the gross income to Kintyre is tourism, and there would have been a very major fall- back on tourism. We have two world-class golf courses where wind farms would have been the backdrop. The long-term job opportunities in offshore wind farms in Kintyre are very, very small. The potential loss of tourism would be very, very substantial.”
A Scottish Government spokesman meanwhile, told Renewable Energy Magazine today that: “SSE’s decision on Kintyre has been informed by our Strategic Environment Assessment, an example of a strategic planning process with genuine and effective stakeholder and community engagement”.
The spokesman went on to say that “Scotland’s growing renewables industry continues to develop, with leading companies such as Scottish and Southern Energy, Iberdrola, Mitsubishi and Gamesa having decided in recent years to invest here and capitalise on our unrivalled natural resources and expertise, particularly offshore. This is about building an exciting new industry that will help sustain our economy and our people for generations to come".
Ocean and solar power also on the agenda
Scottish and Southern Energy’s focus on renewable does not solely encompass wind power. In November of last year the company agreed to invest a further £2.7 million in the wave energy developer Aquamarine Power, taking its total investment in the company over the last three years to £19.8 million and giving it a 45% stake.
The same month, the company’s customers were goven the opportunity to sign up to a new solar photovoltaic (PV) scheme. Under the scheme, they will have solar PV panels installed on their roof by Scottish and Southern Energy’s micro-renewable business at no cost to the customer. The customer will be able to use electricity generated by these panels for free, in return for allowing SSE Micro Renewables to keep the panels on the roof for the next 25 years and pocket the corresponding feed-in tariff.
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