Clean Tech Scotland

Aker Solutions secures a £115m Scottish green-energy contract

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:50:11 +0000

TEESSIDE engineering giant, Aker Solutions, has secured a £115m green-energy contract.

The company won the contract from energy company RWE to provide design, supply, installation, construction and commissioning for a new 50MW biomass renewable energy plant at the Tullis Russell Papermakers plant near Fife in Scotland.

The new biomass station will be the largest of its kind in Scotland, and will reduce Tullis Russell’s annual carbon emissions by 250,000 tonnes.

Work is scheduled to start this month and be completed in March 2013.

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Alex Salmond says £200m North Sea levies should return north

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:41:28 +0000

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond yesterday called for an estimated £200 million in levies from the North Sea oil and gas industry, being held in Westminster, to be released to help create up to 20,000 jobs.

His call was made as Mr Salmond visited Green Ocean Energy, a renewables company specialising in developing wave technologies in Aberdeen.

Mr Salmond claimed that Scotland’s share of the Fossil Fuel Levy – paid by energy producers using non-renewable sources – had been worth £68m when the SNP government took office in May 2007. It now stood at £200m and was “languishing” in a Treasury bank account.

“Scotland won the natural lottery once with North Sea oil and we now have the potential to lead the world again with renewables.

“Aberdeen is the oil and gas capital of Europe and has a wealth of
knowledge and a world renowned skills base. That expertise is now being deployed as we work to make Scotland the clean, green energy hub of Europe.

“To make that ambition a reality, our infrastructure must be further
developed. The value of the Fossil Fuel fund has virtually trebled since 2007, and with it the potential for Scotland to invest in our green energy future.

“The fund of almost £200m could be used to kick start the first wave of infrastructure upgrades identified in the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan – developing the infrastructure here in Aberdeen as well as elsewhere in Scotland.

“This would directly benefit 11 towns and communities around Scotland’s shores and bring thousands of new, green jobs”

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AWS Ocean Energy secures £2m to develop wave technology

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:39:45 +0000

AWS Ocean Energy has secured £1m of funding from Scottish Enterprise matched by a further £1m from Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1 (STFV1). The £2 million investment follows a review of the company’s technology which it claims has resulted in significant improvements to its AWS-III wave power system. AWS Ocean Energy says the design builds on extensive research including offshore testing and detailed modelling of the AWS technology and it is thought that the improved system will have a generating capacity of between 2.4 and 4MW.

Andrew Sloane, senior investment manager at Scottish Enterprise, said: “This is an exciting investment for Scottish Enterprise, not only because the company is at the vanguard of wave power technology, but also because it marks our first venture with new investment partner Kenda Capital.”

AWS Ocean Energy is presently undertaking component and sub-system testing and qualification and is aiming to deploy a full-system prototype AWS-III during 2011.

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OFGEM announces certification scheme for green energy suppliers

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:37:09 +0000

In the last week Ofgem announced the “green energy certified” label to help customers recognise tariffs that have been certified under the scheme. Seven participants under the scheme have now been assessed, namely; British Gas, E.On, EDF Energy, Good Energy, RWE Npower, Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power. Details of the newly certified tariffs are available at www.greenenergyscheme.org .

In order to be eligible under the scheme, suppliers will have to demonstrate to an independent panel of experts that their tariffs result in a reduction of a minimum threshold of carbon dioxide emissions. Crucially suppliers must show that the activity associated with the green tariff is in addition to what they already have to do to meet existing Government targets for sourcing more renewable electricity and reducing household carbon emissions.

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Perth and Kinross Council plans to invest £100,000 in renewable energy

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:35:21 +0000

Several schools in the region already use biomass energy, including the Breadalbane, Blairgowrie and Crieff Community Campuses. The council said it was particularly keen to fund biomass energy projects and hydro-electric schemes. The investment will be made over the next twelve months.

Councillor Miller for Perth and Kinross, said: “I am delighted to announce that we will be funding this new initiative. It will provide an opportunity for Perth and Kinross to capitalise on a growing and very important industry.”

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Alistair Darling makes keynote speech on Economic Recovery and Renewable Energy Skills in Edinburgh

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:32:37 +0000

Friday February 12 Alistair Darling, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered a speech covering a raft of topics relating to the state of the economy, investment, and the financial system. Below is an extract from the speech detailing his views on the renewable energy industry.

“(But) If we want to continue to be world leaders in the energy sector, we must base our advantage on our geography as well as our geology.

We have tremendous potential miles of coastline, plenty of wind and waves.

We are making it easier to invest in renewable energy projects and in England we have streamlined the planning system to accelerate development.

We have introduced a subsidy to support renewable energy. In all, this has released billions of pounds for green energy infrastructure projects.

As a result, the UK already has the world’s largest off-shore wind energy capacity. Not only do we want a cleaner environment, we know this will create jobs.

We must now build on our energy supply chain and our know-how to become world-leaders in all forms of low-carbon energy.

It is estimated that by 2050 the global value of this sector could be as high as GBP3tr per year bigger than the whole French economy and employ over 25m people.

As we move to a low-carbon world, we must seize the opportunities available to us that is why the Government is helping British business get the contracts and carry out the work.”

New Scottish Biomass Power Plant Announced

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:30:38 +0000

A new Biomass plant has been announced to be located in Leith Docks. Energy suppliers Scottish & Southern Electricity and Forth Ports announced the £360 million development, that if approved, would be one of the largest infrastructure developments for Scotland over the coming ten years.

The plant will process between 750,000 and one million tonnes of biomass material a year in order to generate up to 200 megawatts of electricity. The project is one of four biomass power stations planned by Forth Energy (also Dundee, Rosyth & Grangemouth), that will potentially generate up to 5000MW of electricity.

Charles Hammond, chief executive of Forth Port is cited as saying “These proposals not only will create jobs and economic prosperity to support a vibrant local community, but they have been carefully developed to complement our long-term regeneration plans at the harbour.”

Win a year’s renewable energy from Good Energy

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:28:39 +0000

The Guardian have teamed up with Good Energy to offer a year’s worth of free, 100% renewable energy in light of Ofgem’s recent unveiling of their “green energy certified” label to advise consumers of energy companies actual environment benefit from purchasing their tariffs.

The Guardian and good energy are offering a chance to win over £500 of green energy (roughly one year’s supply) and an energy monitor from the Observer Ethical Award-winning Good Energy shop.

For a chance to win, simply follow the link to the Guardian competition page to enter the competition.

Scotland’s First Minister persuades French Firm to move to Aberdeen

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:26:50 +0000

Further to yesterday’s article reporting the news of Alex Salmond’s push to marry French energy giants with Scotland’s renewable potential; we welcome the announcement that following a meeting with Mr Salmond yesterday, Technip – a French energy company – will be relocating its renewable head office to Aberdeen.

Technip currently employs around 900 people in Aberdeen and confirmed yesterday in a meeting with Mr Salmond and Senior Executives that it would indeed be basing its North Sea renewable operations to Aberdeen. Scotland’s First Minister described the decision as “a huge vote of confidence in Scotland’s position as a global leader in renewables innovation, and underlines the massive wealth of human capital and engineering knowledge in the North-east”.

Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Bob Collier, said: “We must continue to look for opportunities to diversify our economy in order to provide a secure economic future for the region. Developing a global renewables industry in the region is a natural extension of current strengths and an achievable goal.”

Technip chairman, Thierry Pilenko, said: “The group’s operating centre in Aberdeen will be able to capitalise on its expertise in offshore operations, fleet management and project execution to tackle the challenges of the renewable energy industry and succeed in its new assignment.”

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Scotland’s First Minister to approach French on Renewables Investment

MaxC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:24:53 +0000

An announcement is expected to be made later today by Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, that could deliver a massive boost for Scotland’s vision as the “renewable powerhouse of Europe”.

The announcement is expected to arise from Salmond’s visit to Paris to discuss potential “unprecedented” investment opportunities in Scotland with French Energy Executives. The Firswt Minister hopes to hold “roundtable discussions” with firms working in tidal and wave renewables, including the French energy giant EDF, Total and Veolia.

Mr Salmond said he would be meeting the “key figures from the leading companies in France’s energy sector” in pursuance of his policy “to harness clean, green energy and meet our climate change targets that are the toughest in the industrialised world”.

The First Minister highlighted the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney as “the world’s only accredited test facility for wave and tidal energy devices” and the £10m Saltire Prize for the development of a commercially viable device generating renewable wave or tidal energy for two years.

Salmond said: “With such abundant natural resources, we must continue to collaborate with international energy companies to ensure Scotland’s opportunity becomes the world’s opportunity and that we continue to work with other nations to meet the global challenge of climate change.”

We hope that the Salmond secures the potential investment, enabling Scotland to take another step towards its vision as the “Powerhouse of Europe”.

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