Puffins and other seabirds face an ‘irreversible decline’ towards extinction under Boris Johnson’s plans to power every home with wind by 2030, the RSPB has warned. The Prime Minister last week promised that Britain had “limitless” offshore wind capacity, and said a green industrial revolution with this renewable resource at its heart would create millions of jobs and avert climate change. However, conservationists have warned that an enthusiastic rolling out of offshore wind could cause our globally important seabird populations to dwindle to extinction. As well as luring seabirds into their sharp propellers, offshore wind farms are often built in the shallow waters where birds feed and find small fish for their young. The government should focus on building onshore wind and solar panels on areas less important for biodiversity, the bird charity has suggested, and fund monitoring and conservation schemes for seabirds to offset the damage any new offshore wind farms create.
Telegraph 13th Oct 2020 read more »
A Danish renewables developer has opened a new facility in Scotland aimed at speeding up the deployment and integration of floating offshore wind. Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP) has already supported the development of the huge 84-turbine Beatrice offshore wind firm off the coast of Caithness and is hoping to make further inroads into the UK market. The company, which has offices in Taiwan, USA, Australia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, employing more than 110 people, has now opened an office in Edinburgh that will act as its global floating offshore wind competence centre. The first employees have already begun work in the office as part of COP’s efforts to develop offshore wind power projects in Scottish waters.
Energy Voice 13th Oct 2020 read more »