Scottish Windfarm Bird Steering Group launches tomorrow

Posted on May 22, 2013 by admin

This week sees the launch of the Scottish Windfarm Bird Steering Group. This is a joint partnership between the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, RSPB Scotland and four of the countries major developers of large scale windfarms: Vattenfall, RES, SSE and ScottishPower Renewables. All four of these groups will be contributing funding to the Steering Group which will be studying interactions between windfarms and bird populations.

The Scottish Windfarm Bird Steering Group will be conducting research for the next four years. For the first time data from several operational windfarms will be collated centrally for the first time. This will allow researchers to carry out in-depth study of issues such as population displacement, cumulative impact and collision risk as well as conduct a review of Scotland’s existing and extensive habitat management schemes.

Professor Colin Galbraith who will be the independent chair of the steering group will announce it’s launch tommorow at the AllEnergy conference in Aberdeen. He made the following statement:

“This new research programme is vital to help us understand the interactions between windfarms and birds across Scotland. It is particularly important, and significant, that the industry is working with the Scottish Government, SNH and RSPB to deliver this important initiative over the coming four years, which will help develop a clearer understanding of how to maintain bird populations alongside windfarms.”

Fergus Ewing, Scottish Government Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism commented:

“The Scottish Government is supporting this important initiative with a view to improving understanding of the relationship between bird populations and wind farms, and it is very positive that the group is already acting as a platform for dialogue and cooperation between the wind industry, conservation groups and Government.

“By reducing uncertainty around such an important environmental issue, the group’s work is supporting a good practise agenda, and our drive for well informed decision making.”

Aedan Smith, Head of Planning and Development for RSPB Scotland stated:

“We warmly welcome the practical support shown by these four companies to the work of the Scottish Windfarm Bird Steering Group. We hope that cooperation in this area between industry, SNH, Scottish Government and ourselves will get best value from data already collected, with the ultimate aim of a quicker, safer decision-making process for birds, base don the best available evidence.”

Joss Blamire, Senior Policy Manager at trade body Scottish Renewables observed:

“Over the last few years, the renewables industry has contributed more to research on birds than any other industry. This commitment to bird conservation has been reinforced by this further contribution from these renewable energy companies.

“Having a central hub for this data means the industry is joining the dots to give researchers a fuller picture of exactly how birds interact with wind turbines.

“The Scottish Windfarm Bird Steering Group is another good example of where industry, conservation groups and government can come together to share expertise and information that will lead to an improved understanding of how we build windfarms that will coexist with our natural environment and wildlife without negatively impacting on them.”

The establishment of the Scottish Windfarm Bird Steering Group is good news for the onshore wind industry for two reasons. Firstly, the long-term nature of the study is indicative of the Scottish Government’s commitment to onshore wind. Secondly, anti-wind turbine groups have long used overinflated claims about the impact of wind turbines on bird populations in attempts to discredit developments and dampen support for the industry. Meeting such claims with hard facts and evidence is the best way to address these issues.

British Public Support for Renewables Increasing

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin

A series of surveys published over the course of this week has revealed that the UK public’s support of renewable energy has increased despite the concerted efforts of some elements of the media.

Firstly the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published the latest in its series of Public Attitudes Tracking Surveys, these have been produced since March 2012 and this is the fifth edition. The survey polled over 2000 members of the public and revealed that support for renewable energy is the highest it has been since the surveys were first assembled – 82% of those polled are in favour of renewable energy, an increase of 3% since January 2013. Onshore wind, which has been the primary focus of several negative newspaper campaigns, also saw an increase of support. 64% of those polled in January 2013 were in favour of more onshore wind developments; in March 2013 68% of those polled were in favour. Furthermore the polled level of opposition to further onshore wind developments saw a decrease of 2%, from 13% of those polled in January 2013 to 11% of those polled in March 2013.

A spokesman for DECC was quoted as remarking:

“It suggests the media is really out of kilter with what’s happening in the country.

“Today’s figures are indicative of the long term support for renewables among the British public. This support comes from people’s experience on the ground as developers engage with communities and projects are delivered across the UK.”

Secondly, a poll produced by ComRes for RenewableUK has revealed the influence a politicians stance on wind power has on voters. 76% of those polled were either in favour of or neutral to wind power. 34% indicated that they would be more likely to support a pro-wind politician.

The poll also asked questions about the 2015 General Election. 31% revealed they would be less likely to support a political party due to an anti-wind power stance compared to only 27% who would be more likely to support such a political party. Female voters were revealed to be particularly supportive of wind power with nearly one in three stating they would be less willing to vote for a party which intended to remove support for onshore wind.

Maria McCaffrey, Chief Executive at RenewableUK commented:

“The countdown to the next national election is on, and these results show that those politicians who attack wind farms risk alienating important parts of the electorate – the very people who could decide the next election. We continually see high approval ratings for wind energy, and it’s clear that as voters go to the ballot box they keep that favourability towards wind. For the energy sector to secure the investment needed and to create tens of thousands of jobs over the next decade it’s vital that we see strong political leadership. Today’s results should encourage politicians to do just that.”

The results of these surveys suggest that despite the best efforts of some elements of the media they are failing to influence public opinion. Public support for renewable energy and specifically wind energy is increasing.

UK completes construction of world’s largest offshore wind farm

Posted on April 12, 2013 by admin

This week the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the London Array, finished construction in UK waters. This now means that both the world’s biggest onshore and offshore wind farms are now supplying electricity to British homes. The London Array was a joint project between Dong Energy, Masdar and EON.

The London Array consists of 175 individual 6MW turbines giving a total installed capacity of 630MWs. This will provide enough electricity to power nearly half a million homes or expressed another way two thirds of Kent’s housing stock. Additionally the wind farm will reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by 900,000 tonnes a year.

The completion of construction was announced with much fanfare. Richard Rigg, the Project Director stated:

“This is the final major milestone of the construction phase and the culmination of more than two years offshore construction work which began in March 2011 with the installation of the first foundation.

“It has been a complex operation but I am delighted that the commissioning of the wind farm has now been completed on schedule, despite the worst of the winter weather.”

Country Manager for Dong Energy‘s UK Wind Business, Benj Sykes commented:

“Building London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, is a great achievement.

“As we now look to our pipeline of future projects, Dong Energy is determined to drive down the cost of offshore wind farms to €100 per megawatt hour for projects we will be sanctioning in 2020.

“What we have learnt at London Array, together with our continuing focus on innovation in technologies and techniques, will help us achieve that.”

Tony Cocker, Chief Executive Officer at E.ON UK remarked:

“London Array is a significant achievement in renewable energy. The world’s largest operational offshore wind farm will be capable of generating enough energy to power nearly half a million homes and reduce harmful CO2 emissions by over 900,000 tonnes a year.

“It’s been a tough time for the team working on site. The recent bad weather and north-easterly winds have whipped up the waves preventing access to the site so this milestone is true reward for their hard work.”

Maria McCaffrey, RenewableUK Chief Executive released the following statement:

“Britain has a real achievement to celebrate here – the largest operational offshore wind farm in the world is generating clean electricity for British homes and businesses . It’s a monumental feat of green engineering. Other massive projects are also coming to fruition in UK waters, such as Teeside, Gwynt y Mor off the coast of North Wales and Gunfleet Sands off the Essex coast, where the next generation of even more powerful offshore turbines is being tested in the water for the first time anywhere in the world.

To hold on the UK’s global lead in offshore wind, it’s vital that we maintain this momentum. We must ensure that the crucial legislation going through Parliament right now – the Energy Bill – sets a rock-solid framework to encourage investment in renewables.

“If MPs get the details of the Bill right, we can unlock billions of pounds of investment for more flagship low-carbon projects like London Array, and create 76,000 jobs in the British wind industry by the dawn of the next decade.

“To secure those jobs, and to safeguard employment for future generations, we’re also getting the Government to articulate a clear vision of the scale of its amobition for the wind industry in the longer term, beyond 2020.”

The completion of Phase One of the London Array demonstrates the great strides the British wind industry is taking, delivering much needed growth and jobs to the British economy. The fact that the UK is now home to the world’s largest offshore and onshore (Whitelees wind farm in South Lanarkshire) wind farms demonstrates the existing strength of the industry. But the potential is there for far more.

Community Benefits

Posted on April 4, 2013 by admin

It is frequently the case that any mooted renewable energy development will also propose to establish a community benefit of some sort.

Most often this benefit takes the form of an annual charitable donation or annual funding given to a local community group to direct where it is felt to be most needed. Community benefits are often one of the most important aspects of any proposed development ;and certainly one of the most relevant to local communities. However, it can be argued that community benefits are frequently one of the less publicised elements of any development. Developers and, it must be said, Local Authorities often fail to successfully get their message across.Debate is often led up the path of spurious speculation on health rather than the concrete benefits developments can bring in these times of ever decreasing central and local funding

In our experience, the potential for community benefits to be lost in the debate over development is not helped by the fact that there is little consistency across Local Authority areas in how such funding is not just collected or administered but if it is even required. For some Local Authorities community benefits are collected and managed by the Local Authority itself; such as in South Lanarkshire. It may be the case that only developments above a certain scale are required to produce a community benefit. In some councils providing a community benefit is not considered to be mandatory. The lack of consistency between Local Authorities in the requirements for community benefits could be argued to be real hindrance to renewable energy developments in this country. Community benefits are often the most immediately palpable positive part of a development but their impact may be heavily diluted by a lack of public awareness or expectation. Perhaps if community benefits were more widely promoted by both developers and local authorities it would enable local communities to engage more fully with the arguments surrounding potential developments.

We at Intelligent Land Investments would like, at this time, to stress that all of our developments proposed, consented or constructed includes a community benefit regardless of whether one is required by the local authority. Frequently in cases where we are paying into a council managed fund we are paying more than required by that council. In all of the cases in which there is no requirement for a community benefit we sought out a local charity working widely within the local authority area of a development, helping the vulnerable of that community, ran by members of that community for the benefit of that community.

The Scottish Government has taken some steps to promote and publicise community benefits but more could be done.

The Community Benefit Register, launched last year, which can be found here provides details of all of the community benefits provided by constructed renewable developments. However it is not mandatory to register community benefits on the website let alone mandatory to provide them. More standardisation of community benefits across local authority areas could prove to be extremely beneficial. For instance making the provision of community benefits mandatory across the country would shift the debate from promoting their existence to promoting not just the good work they could fund but the good work they are already funding. We at Intelligent Land Investments feel that promoting such work would have more impact than promoting the difference in projected energy bill pricing between a renewables and fossil fuel based energy system.

A Good Week

Posted on February 28, 2013 by admin

Last week saw good news for us here at Intelligent Land Investments as we saw five of our sites gain planning approval over the course of a few days. This acceleration of sites coming through the planning process is the result of much hard work over the last year in signing up, assessing and making the case for our sites to communities and councils.

The five sites are in Local Authority Areas across the country including Aberdeenshire and South Lanarkshire; two areas of great wind resource, arable land and grid development. In total they add up to over a megawatt of renewable energy which will be constructed, connected to the National Grid and generating renewable electricity over the course of the next few months.

Good news for ourselves but more importantly good news for the farmers and landowners which we work with. The benefits of renewable energy should not be reaped solely by those landowners and developers able to develop large scale windfarms. The feed-in-tariff, as we are demonstrating, can be accessed by a much higher proportion of the population. People to which the revenue from a wind turbine, such as those consented last week, can be a game-changer At a time when the UK’s agricultural sector is coming under increasing pressure from poor weather, higher costs and reduced governmental support the work companies such as ourselves are doing can make a real difference for farmers across the country.

Good news for communities across the country as well as money from every one of these turbines (as well as all of our other sites) will be used to support community groups, projects and charities in every one of the Local Authority Areas in which we are operating. At a time when funding for such vital work is being squeezed we are delighted to be able to make a contribution.

Good news too for both the UK and Scottish Governments. We are contributing to both parliaments meeting their renewable energy generation targets along with the rest of our industry. Over the past few years Renewable Energy has been one of the few industries in the UK able to create both growth and jobs

The benefits that renewable energy generation can bring to farmers across the country were promoted by the NFU (National Farmers Union) in the run up to their annual conference this week. Noting that British agricultural yields and productivity have dropped to levels not seen since the 1980s (largely attributed to last years poor weather) it was revealed that in 2012 an estimated one in five NFU members produced renewable electricity on their land. The NFU is encouraging more of it’s members to explore the opportunites available to them:

“2012 was a difficult year for the farming community, with bad weather hitting incomes hard. Investing in renewable energy provides farmers and growers with additional earnings at a time when farm budgets have become very stretched.” – Dr Jonathan Scurlock, NFU Chief Advisor for renewable energy and climate change.

Maria McCaffrey, Chief Executive of RenewableUK received the news enthusiastically:

“Farmers are experts at harnessing the Earth’s natural resources, so it’s no surprise that they are leading the way on wind energy. The UK has the most powerful wind resource in Europe and this has provided a vital source of income for farmers, helping to preserve rural communities in Britain.”

It is our hope that the good news continues to come in, not just for ourselves but for all of our landowners.

A good week for Wind Energy

Posted on February 15, 2013 by admin

There was good news for the UK wind industry this week as a YouGov poll published in last weeks Sunday Times revealed that support for renewable energy remains extremely high with the British public.

The poll from the country’s most respected market research agency revealed particularly strong support for wind, wave and tidal power. For example when those sampled were asked which technologies they most supported for meeting Britain’s energy needs 18% of those asked backed wind power and a further 18% backed wave and tidal power. In comparison only 5% felt that further gas generation was the best solution and a meagre 2% backed an expansion of coal power generation. This is despite strong claims from some sections of the UK Government that a boom in unconventional gas could act as an economic stimulus for the country over the next decade.

Government support levels for renewable technologies have also been a contentious issue for some aspects of the British press with some outlets claiming that there is mass public opposition to schemes such as the Renewables Obligations and the Feed-in-Tariffs. However this YouGov poll reveals that 66% of those surveyed feel the government is entirely correct to subsidise renewable developments. Additionally 56% of people polled are strongly in favour of continued financial support for wind. These figures would seem to suggest that it is vested interests rather than the public who are unhappy with the expansion of renewable energy developments in the UK. Some press outlets have also maintained that people are particularly opposed to these developments happening in their own local area. Again these claims are not backed up the polling figures: 64% of people would be in favour of a large scale onshore wind development in their area, 72% would support a large scale offshore wind development and 71% would be in favour of large scale development of wave and tidal resources. In comparison only between 4-13% of people would oppose such developments.

The publication of the poll was received enthusiastically by Jennifer Webber, Director of External Affairs for RenewableUK:

“Each time one of these national polls is published we see the same message – resounding support for wind, wave and tidal, continued acceptance of financial support for them and understanding of the benefits. Government needs to focus all its efforts on realising the low carbon future people are calling out for – 78% of people polled chose a low-carbon source of energy as their choice for the future. To achieve the investment needed to secure people’s overwhelming request for a low carbon future, we need to see a signal from Government beyond 2020. The 2030 target would be a great way to achieve this.

Additionally, this week, a document published by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) revealed that the UK now has the third highest wind energy capacity on the continent. This is an improvement on 2011 when the UK was fifth behind France, Italy, Germany and Spain. 2012 has seen the UK leapfrog France and Italy now behind only the long established German and Spanish industries. In total the UK now has 8.4GW of installed wind capacity.

Maf Smith, Deputy Chief Executive of RenewableUK commented:

“The UK’s strong performance in the European league table reflects the growing importance of the British wind industry as a leading player. This proves the increasing significance of wind energy to the UK’s economy despite tough global economic conditions.

“The Government is calling for the UK to quadruple the amount of wind installed between now and 2020. The industry can achieve 31 gigawatts onshore and offshore by the end of the decade, but only with clear-cross party political support.

“We can attract billions of pounds worth of investment to the UK and create tens of thousands of jobs, but only if the signals from Westminster are right. The proof of this will be in the Energy Bill, which is due to become law by the end of the year. So the decisions taken by Government over the next few months are absolutely crucial for the UK’s wind industry.”

69% of all new European energy capacity came from renewable technologies underlining the consensus that exists in Europe about both the importance and potential of renewable energy.

Launch of Tory Pro-Renewables Group

Posted on January 11, 2013 by admin

Earlier this week, an influential group of Conservative MP’s , self described as ‘Progressive’, called on their party to fully embrace green policies and make them a cornerstone of the electoral campaign in 2015. The 2020 Group published a strategy document calling for the embracement of green ideas and the expansion of the green economy.

The 2020 Group has over 60 members including several high profile and influentiual figures such as the Energy Minister Greg Barker, Transport Secretary Justine Greening and the Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin. The strategy document, entitled ‘2020 Vision: An Agenda for Transformation‘ was written by MP’s Laura Sandys and Claire Perry and outlines several policy proposals as well as emphasising the increasing importance of renewable energy sources such as wind, wave and tidal in protecting consumers from spiralling bills and price shocks.

The case has been made before but is worth repeating: increased renewable energy generation protects consumers by making the UK far less dependant upon imports of oil and gas. This in turn insulates the UK energy market and UK consumers from seemingly inexorable price rises on international markets.

The document continues to urge the UK Government to not fall down on the wrong side of history:

“In 2020 a new industrial revolution will be underway, accepted as the new paradigm for modern business practise. Business model terminology will have changed significantly by 2020. No longer will people describe companies as ‘green’ or ‘ethical’ – quite the reverse. Companies will be specifically described as fossil fuel companies and will be regarded as having archaic business models, greater insecurity in financial returns due to exposure to a widely fluctuating global market, and unethical in terms of values and philosophy.

“We will drop the word ‘renewable’ because renewable will be the norm. Ultimately, sustainable energy sources will be as much about economic efficiencies, resilience, and a modern economic model as it is about reducing our carbon emissions in the face of climate change…

“Never before has an economic re-alignment been supported by so many less than usual bedfellows. Organisations ranging from the CBI to the largest corporations such as Unilever, BAT, Siemens, Alstom and Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and church groups have all been supporting the need for very clear messages from government on decarbonisation… greening the economy is not ‘nice to have’, but a total necessity.”

The 2020 Group has been quoted as saying that the document will be the basis of further and expanded policies in the run up to 2015.

The launch of the paper has been enthusiastically greeted by the renewables industry. Maf Smith, Deputy Chief Executive of the trade-body RenewableUK released the following comment:

“This forward looking group of Conservative MPs has clearly articulated a vision which many of us share. Opinion polls show that they’re in tune with the majority of public opinion on the growing importance of renewable energy.

“We can build an escape route for consumers from the uncontrollable rise of fossil fuel prices by de-carbonising our energy supply and generating clean electricity from our own natural resources. It’s great to see an influential group of progressive Tory MPs going public in their support for this.

“The business is compelling not just in terms of reducing the long term cost of energy, but also in securing economic growth, as nearly 90,000 of us will be working in the wind, wave and tidal energy industries by 2020.”

It will be interesting to see exactly what further policies the 2020 group will be proposing but the very fact that a high profile collection of Conservative MPs is pushing for more renewable energy will surely serve to reassure investors and the UK’s growing renewable energy industries.

Scottish Renewables Industry set to surpass £1 billion investment for 2012

Posted on December 7, 2012 by admin

It was announced this week that investment levels in the Scottish renewables industry are at record breaking levels. In the first six months of 2012 alone over £900 million was invested into the industry; £801 million of which went into onshore wind. In comparison £750 million was invested in the industry in the whole of 2011. Investment levels are confidently expected to top £1 billion by the end the year and could reach a figure as high as one £1.5 billion.

Niall Ferguson, Chief Executive of trade-body Scottish Renewables greeted the news at the Scottish Green Awards earlier in the week:

“We learnt that we smashed the 2011 renewable electricity target, that the sector supports some 11,000 jobs, is making a massive dent in carbon emissions, and output has again hit record levels.

“DECC figures show that Scotland’s renewable energy sector delivered some £900 million of investment in the first six months of 2012, putting us firmly on course to exceed an annual total of £1 billion for the first time in the industry’s history.

“More than £800 million of this came from onshore wind, showing the importance of the sector during a challenging time for Scotland’s economy. That investment is of course supporting thousands of jobs across Scotland in project management, civil engineering, professional services and operations and maintenance.

“This year could see more than double the level of capital projects delivered than in 2011.We attracted around £750 million of investment in the entire year of 2011 and more than £900 million in the just six months of 2012. If we continue at this rate there’s a good chance we could see in excess of £1.5 billion of capital projects.

Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing also commented on the news, issuing the following statement:

“Scotland’s clean green energy resources are delivering thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment to communities across Scotland.

“These figures show the size of the prize renewable energy is offering to the people of Scotland, with renewable energy investment in Scotland now set to exceed £1 billion in 2012 alone.

“The list of recent companies investing, or planning to invest, in Scotland’s renewable energy future shows that Scotland is increasingly the destination of choice for renewable energy investment.”

Another announcement served to further hammer home the point of just how much renewable energy, and particularly onshore wind, is contributing to the Scottish economy. A survey produced by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) shows that £1 of every £8 spent on infrastructure projects in Scotland is coming from investment in renewable energy.

CECA Scotland’s chairman Roger Philpott commented; “We’re not surprised the renewables sector is providing more than 15 per cent of Scotland’s annual £2 billion civil engineering outturn. It’s right up there with Scottish Water and Scottish Transport.”

It is hoped that the good news can continue to flow in for the Scottish renewables industry into the new year.

Government confirms commitment to Renewable Energy

Posted on November 27, 2012 by admin

Last week the UK Government underlined it’s commitment to renewable energy by announcing a funding commitment for future years. In total £7.6 billion pounds will be made available to the renewables industry between the years 2015-2020. This sum will be generated from small subsidies taken from individuals energy bills. The slight increases this funding will cause in energy bills is fully expected to be more than offset by savings made from having to import a reduced amount of gas from abroad. The £7.6 billion pounds is also expected to stimulate a further £40 billion worth of investment in the renewables industry – which has been one of the the few growth industries in the UK – and create thousands of jobs.

The funding commitment is expected to increase renewable electricity generation from it’s current level of 11% of electricity used to 30% by 2020. This will see the UK achieve it’s EU agreed target for renewable generation

The announcement was made in the build up the Coalition’s Energy Bill being presented in parliament. It is encouraging that the Coalition Government has presented such a united front on this issue following media speculation about disagreements over future energy policy.

At the announcement of the spending commitment for 2015-2020 the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey gave the following statement:

“This is a durable agreement across the Coalition against which companies can invest and support jobs and our economic recovery.

“The decisions we’ve reached are true to the Coalition Agreement, they mean we can introduce the Energy Bill next week and have essential electricity market reforms up and running by 2014 as planned.

“They will allow us to meet our legally binding carbon reduction and renewable energy obligations and will bring on the investment required to keep the lights on and bills affordable for consumers.”

The news was generally greeted favourably by the industry. Maria McCaffrey, the Chief Executive of the trade body RenewableUK, released the following statement:

“This is a crucial announcement for the renewable energy sector. The news that there is rock solid support across Government for renewable energy, and clear evidence that Treasury and the Department of Energy and Climate Change are in step, provide the industry with exactly the kind of assurances we’ve been calling for. This blows the last few months of political infighting completely out of the water.

“This is proof that the Treasury really does get it – the renewable energy industry offers one of our best hopes for economic recovery. This will stimulate billions of pounds worth of investment in renewables, creating more than 88,000 jobs in wind, wave and tidal energy alone by 2021. It will enable us to hit our 2020 renewable energy targets, and make sure renewables can play their part in protecting UK consumers from unstable international power markets – we’ve seen over the last few years that the cost of imported gas has caused the bulk of energy bill price rises, and developing our own resources helps counter that dependence and vulnerability.

“The UK Government is sending a clear message that 30% of our electricity will be from renewable sources by 2020. The lion’s share will come from wind energy, with 31 gigawatts to be installed by the end of the decade.

“The Government also clearly understands that there’s likely to need to be a decarbonisation target for 2030. That’s great news, which will retain investor confidence in the long term. Those investors put £2.5 billion into the industry this year – this will now increase exponentially. Now it’s full steam ahead, so let’s get on with it”.

Jenny Hogan , Director of Policy for Scottish Renewables broadly agreed:

“There is still a great deal of detail on Electricity Market Reform to be revealed, but today’s announcement confirms that the Government remains committed to the growth of renewable energy and to our 2020 energy targets.

“This provides some much needed and long awaited certainty to the industry, which will allow us to really start planning for the future and investing in technologies such as offshore wind and marine energy. In turn we will see a massive reduction in carbon emissions from our power sector over the next decade.

“This is a particularly important announcement for Scotland, given that uncertainty over EMR has been the biggest threat to the development of offshore wind manufacturing and supply chain which could bring many thousands of jobs across the country.

“The UK Government needs Scotland to achieve our 100% renewable electricity target if the UK is to meet its re-stated renewable energy targets.”

John Cridland, director general of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) welcomed the announcement but did also stress that it is of critical importance that the interests of other British Industries were remembered:

“This package will send a strong signal to investors that the government is serious about providing firms with the certainty they need to invest in affordable, secure, low-carbon energy. The government should ensure that those households and businesses most vulnerable to increased energy prices are protected.”

It is hoped that the industry can move on from speculative and potentially damaging headlines to helping the UK achieve its renewable energy targets.

Scotland announces new renewables target

Posted on November 5, 2012 by admin

This week the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond appeared at the RenewableUK conference in Glasgow. The First Minister announced that a new interim renewable generation target of 50% of Scotland’s electricity demand has been set for 2015. This new target was set based upon the fact that the interim target for 2011 was exceeded; 35% of demand from renewables as opposed to the target 31%. Additionally a new target for greenhouse gas emission reduction was also set – a reduction of 42% of 1990 CO2 emissions to be achieved by 2020.

Mr Salmond gave the following speech at the launch of the target:

“When I became First Minister in 2007, I inherited a target for 50 per cent of Scotland’s electricity to be produced by renewable sources by 2020. We now know that we can achieve much more than that, more quickly -having already exceeded our 2011 target.

“Last year, we published a Routemap for Renewable Energy for Scotland, outlining how we would meet the equivalent of 100 per cent of Scotland’s electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020. Today, we are publishing an update to that Routemap. It shows clearly the progress that has been made in the last year.

“In the light of that progress, I can announce that we have set a new interim target – by 2015 the equivalent of 50 per cent of Scotland’s electricity demand will be met by renewable sources. This target is ambitious, but also achievable. It is based on current data about capacity, which is operational, under construction, or has been consented.

“I believe creating more clean energy is essential for Scotland and this target provides three benefits in particular – energy security; environmental sustainability; and employment opportunities.

“Expanding our renewable electricity capacity in Scotland will help deliver security of supply, not just in Scotland but at UK level. Ofgem predicted earlier this month that by 2015 the UK’s electricity generation might exceed peak demand by only 4 per cent. That’s a steep decline from today’s 14 per cent, and even that 4 per cent margin is only achieved by ending electricity exports to Ireland.

“The position for Scotland is very different. By 2015 our generation capacity could exceed peak demand by approximately 35 per cent. This underlines that renewables, alongside our other generation sources, is crucial to energy security in Scotland. It’s also crucial to the UK. That second challenge of environmental sustainability is the next key benefit of renewable energy. In Scotland we are proud of the fact that the Scottish Parliamenthas unanimously passed the world’s toughest climate change legislation – requiring us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42 per cent by 2020.

“Already, Scotland’s renewable energy production offests our carbon emissions by 15 per cent – the equivalent of taking around 3.5 million cars off the road. The continuing expansion of renewable electricity will be essential for us to meet our 2020 target.

“As well as being an environmental and moral imperative , the development of renewable energy is also a massive economic opportunity.

“Scotland is in many respects uniquely positioned to develop offshore wind, wave and tidal power – we have immense natural resources, a world-class research base and generations of engineering expertise, particularly offshore.

“Everything that the Scottish Government does – our long-term targets and our significant financial support for developing renewables – is designed to maximise those advantages, and to encourage jobs and investment. We have listened to the renewable industry, and we have worked to make Scotland one of the best places in the world to invest.

“In total, 11,000 people are now employed in the renewable energy sector. That number will grow still further – indeed, we have estimated that offshore wind alone could support up to 28,000 direct jobs by 2020.

“The Scottish Government understands that renewable energy is essential for energy security, for environmental sustainablility and for economic prosperity. For that reason, I can guarantee that we will continue to provide leadership and support for everything that you are doing here in Scotland.”

Further good news was seen this week with the publication of new figures by Bloomsberg New Energy Finance which demonstrate that the cost of operating and maintaining an onshore wind installation has dropped 38% over the last four years. or an annual reduction of 11%. Falling costs were largely attributed to improved turbine technology and increased competition between manufacturers.

Michael Leibreich, Chief Executive of Bloomsberg New Energy Finance commented:

“Wind power has done much to improve its competitiveness against gas-fired and coal-fired generation in recent years, via lower cost, more technically advanced turbines, and more sophisticated siting and management of wind turbines.”

It is hoped that the good news can continue to roll in for onshore wind particularly and the renewable energy industry more generally.