Scotland is still missing on on real windfalls of renewables
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Viewpoint by Rob Gibson
Renewable production here averages three-quarters of all electric power used in Scotland. Vitally, it feeds the UK grid which during the recent Storm Bella saw exceptional production figures, especially from our onshore and offshore wind turbines.
This feeds essential English consumption. But a week of cold weather and high pressure, hence poor wind speeds, has shown the National Grid struggling to cope and electricity spot prices rocket for other sources of power.
Combined production and storage will eventually even out the flow. It also highlights the snail’s pace development of the privatised National Grid to invest in energy security from diverse sources rather than just reward shareholders.
We should have expected the UK government white paper on energy, belatedly published late last year, to provide an energy route map. Instead, as predicted, it is full of aspiration, still fixated on building new nuclear plant and nodding in the direction of offshore wind expansion as a contributor to curb climate change.
One commentator in north-east Scotland remarked on the white paper focus being on the needs of south-east England, once again. Don’t be fooled, Brexit won’t hinder the interconnectors from France, so imports of nuclear generated power to the Home Counties are secure.
Of course, state-owned, French giant EDF, the provider, is also hand-in-glove with Whitehall to build more nuclear power plant here despite the vast overrun of costs at its huge Hinkley Point site.
A glance at Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) projects points to its biggest offshore turbines yet to be deployed. At 12MW they will be installed at the huge Dogger Bank concession. Two hundred-plus units some 130km into the North Sea will see these wind towers, 80 per cent the height of the Eiffel Tower, support 220-metre diameter rotors. They are being tested at Blyth in Northumberland which Boris Johnson visited in December.
The Observer reported earlier this month that the three-phase development of Dogger Bank already involves £6 billion investment by 29 investment banks for phases one and two alone.
This emphasises the potential profits from the ‘southern’ part of SSE. Back in Scotland the company has failed to ensure work goes to Scottish yards such as BiFab for its project entitled Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) meaning Strength of the Wind. BiFab’s Canadian owners have ditched the Methil and Stornoway yards which urgently need a buyer. Acrimony in Scotland has ensued but, it seems, it’s all go off Teesside.
Make no mistake, UK ministers in this and previous governments have steered the supply chain to Hull and north-east England. Yet the pioneering offshore work was achieved in the Moray Firth. Certainly, NnG off Tayside is also a big one. EDF and ESB, the joint owners, say NnG has the potential to generate 450MW of renewable energy, that’s enough to power over 375,000 households.
It’s an investment of £2 billion in Scotland’s energy infrastructure which, they claim, can offset over 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. The closest turbines will be a minimum of 15.5km from the shore and the production cable connects to Crystal Rig onshore wind farm near Dunbar, East Lothian.
There is a major difference in scale of these projects. £6 billion for Dogger Bank, with Beatrice and Moray Firth East plus NnG together costing the same. The size of turbine blades has greatly increased since the 7MW Beatrice models. Yet the further north you go in the UK, the better the wind speeds.
The big questions in this year are what future can we expect to deliver major wind projects in the north of Scotland?
SSE and partners built and run Beatrice, serviced from Wick. EDF and partners have put in place their first turbine off the Moray coast. Between them they claim to be able to supply 1.4 million households, that’s more than half Scotland’s domestic needs. That means new schemes can make us self-sufficient from offshore wind, but the beneficiaries are French, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Danish firms which dominate the supply chain.
The big prizes which could come to Scotland are from floating offshore structures if we can build the components here, then export the technology. Of course, the Norwegian national energy company, Equinor, is pioneering these off Peterhead. But they could fit the dozen projected wind farm sites identified by Crown Estate Scotland.
Our devolved government in Edinburgh can plan, back and encourage but is stymied by the UK government and its Anglocentric plans, which make it difficult to secure a sustainable wind turbine manufacturing base north of the border.
The mothballing of BiFab prompted the British GMB union to blame the Scottish Government for the loss. The Scottish Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop angrily noted that further government investment from Edinburgh would fall foul of EU state aid rules which is a reserved matter to London. The massive privatisations of energy companies under Margaret Thatcher led to lack of leverage for London which is not the case, to the same extent, for continental supply chain firms.
Further, the GMB did not stress in its attack on St Andrews House that its policy is wholehearted support for nuclear power jobs, which Scottish Government policy is phasing out. Indeed, the GMB failed utterly to target the root problem in Whitehall of renewables delivery.
Too often media reporting of such clashes fails to explain these long-term drawbacks that face Scottish needs and opportunities. To put this in perspective, energy policy controlled in Edinburgh is essential to offer a fighting chance of turning Scotland, which has become an energy ‘colony’, into an international partner which offers cutting-edge expertise, massive natural resources and an educated willing workforce to work with partners on equal terms.
Contact Rob: robgibson273@btinternet.com
