Over 1,000 new wind turbines will be installed around the Scottish coast under a new marine plan as the government seeks to increase renewable energy generation. Ministers want to secure 11Gw of offshore wind capacity by the end of this decade – enough to power more than 8M homes. The Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy and Offshore Wind Policy Statement – published this week by Marine Scotland – sets out the most suitable locations for the future development of commercial offshore wind energy. Large projects in the pipeline include Seagreen 1 with 114 turbines expected off the Angus coast, the Moray East development with 100, Inch Cape, also off Angus, with 72 and Neart na Gaoithe in the outer Firth of Forth with more than 50. Scotland’s energy minister Paul Wheelhouse emphasised the need to “harness Scotland’s enviable wind resource for our energy system and unlock significant investment in the supply chain to create more green jobs across the sector”.
New Civil Engineer 29th Oct 2020 read more »
POTENTIAL wind turbines located in the sea to the east of Shetland remains on the table after it was included in the Scottish Government’s final marine plan for offshore wind. The plan was published today (Wednesday) alongside an offshore wind policy statement in which the government says it believes as much as 11GW of offshore wind capacity is possible in Scottish waters by 2030. Earlier this year the government issued a draft plan highlighting areas where future offshore wind developments could potentially be sited, with one located to the east of Bressay offering a maximum output of 2GW. In the final plan, that area has been amended to remove an area of overlap with the Shetland Islands’ works licensing regime.
Shetland News 28th Oct 2020 read more »
The Scottish government has set an ambitious new target to increase its offshore wind capacity to power more than eight million homes. The plan will see hundreds of new wind turbines installed off the Scottish coast, and increase existing offshore capacity to 11 gigawatts (GW) by the end of the decade. In addition to providing clean energy and helping the country hit net-zero emissions, the target will drive a “green recovery” from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with greater investment in the sector creating more jobs, the Scottish government said. The capacity of Scotland’s offshore wind production is currently 1GW and there are already developments underway to bring this up to 5.6GW.
Independent 29th Oct 2020 read more »