Looking back at some of the stories of 2019 in Energy North
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Prince Charles officially opened Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited – known as BOWL or simply Beatrice – in the summer of 2019 after Scotland's largest offshore wind farm was completed.
Full power was reached at the end of May when the 84th turbine was put in place and started generating power at the 588MW development in the Outer Moray Firth.
The £2.6 billion scheme can produce enough power to provide clean, low-carbon electricity to more than 450,000 homes.
Jim Smith, managing director of majority shareholder SSE Renewables, said of the achievement: "Delivering one of Scotland's largest ever private investments on time and under budget is a fantastic achievement given its complexity and we would like to thank everyone who has helped make the project a reality."
Prince Charles called it a "remarkable engineering feat" when he spoke at BOWL's official opening at its operations and maintenance base in Wick, where he took a tour and spoke to members of staff.
Earlier in the year, a sector deal for offshore wind gave a further boost to the burgeoning industry, with predictions that the number of jobs could triple to 27,000 amid plans to invest hundreds of millions of pounds to develop more offshore schemes.
In the north of Scotland, the Moray East wind farm – close to the existing Beatrice – began its construction phase in the summer. It will consist of 100 turbines and add a further 950MW of capacity to the cluster.
However, there was bad news in the Contracts for Difference auction in October when its sister site Moray West was overlooked.
The CfD was also a blow to some of the island interconnectors, with Orkney failing to reach the required 135MW of new projects to justify its link at this stage, while Shetland's Viking wind farm being turned down puts that link in doubt. Lewis Wind Power's project at Stornoway was also refused, casting doubt over the proposed link from the Western Isles to the mainland.
Gavin Mackay, head of energy industries at Highlands and Islands Enterprise, said: "Transmission links to the islands are vital to ensure that the Northern and Western Isles can continue to play a vital and strategic role in the UK energy mix for the decades to come."
Beyond wind, other renewable technologies came to the fore in 2019, with record output from the MeyGen tidal project in the Pentland Firth, exporting a total of 17.5 gigawatt hours as we reported in our August/September issue of Energy North.
Orbital Marine Power continues to develop and build its next-generation 2MW tidal turbine, set to be the world's most powerful tidal turbine when it goes into testing in Orkney later in 2020.
Developments in wave energy also came to the surface during 2019, with two new prototype devices due to be tested at the European Marine Energy Centre – including one from Inverness-based company AWS Ocean Power. Its Archimedes Waveswing device was selected for the final of Wave Energy Scotland's stagegate selection process.
AWS chief executive Simon Grey told Energy North in February: "We look forward to demonstrating the technology in real operational conditions and believe that we can deliver a breakthrough for wave energy and a massive opportunity for the Highlands as we commercialise the Waveswing."
While the focus has largely been on renewables, the oil and gas sector also published its roadmap to net-zero after legally-binding targets for carbon emissions were set by the Scottish and UK governments.
Oil and Gas UK chief executive Deirdre Mitchell insisted the need to recognise the "continued role of oil and gas in a diverse energy mix" but campaigners branded the industry vision a disgrace, saying "there is no such thing as a sustainable oil industry".
In Wester Ross, Kishorn Port Limited (KPL) came back into service with its first major contract. The £10 million deal saw the world's largest semi-submersible offshore drilling rig, the Ocean GreatWhite, arrive at the port for refurbishment ahead of a drilling contract in the North Sea.
KPL director Alasdair Ferguson hoped the work would "herald a new era of engagement in the oil and gas industry at Kishorn".
Rig protesters bring firth to a standstill
For 12 days in June, climate campaigners staged a protest against oil giant BP in the Cromarty Firth, where they boarded one of the firm’s rigs.
Greenpeace activists first climbed on board the 27,000-tonne Transocean rig Paul B Loyd Junior on June 9, calling for an end to drilling for new oil wells.
The rig was on its way to the Vorlich field in the North Sea but protesters delayed its departure from the firth to demand a swift move to renewable energy production due to the climate emergency.
On June 20, to mark the final day of action. activists delivered a ‘People’s Climate Injuction’ to BP headquarters in Aberdeen and London calling on the company and the industry to “immediately end the search for new fossil fuels and start a rapid and just transition” to renewables.
A number of arrests were made during the action.
Over the course of five days, three sets of climbers boarded the rig, preventing it from leaving the Cromarty Firth, before a further stand-off in the North Sea between the rig and the Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise, which prevented it from reaching the drill site, including a Greenpeace swimmer blocking the rig’s path.
BP said the actions of the activists were irresponsible but said they shared protesters’ concerns over the climate. “We are committed to being part of the solution to the climate challenge facing all of us,” a spokesperson said.
But Greenpeace said BP was only paying lip service to the climate emergency.
