Scottish Government
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New wave of opportunity in tidal energy
The Pentland Firth is now open for renewable development and a new energy company will be established in Scotland.
Caithness and its surrounding waters are the epicentre of Scotlands future in renewables, First Minister Alex Salmond said yesterday.
Mr Salmond was speaking at the Caithness Regeneration Conference in Thurso earlier today where he outlined Scottish Powers plans to set up a new energy company as well as identifying Isla and the Pentland Firth as the first sites for commercial tidal farms.
The First Minister also announced the Crown Estates decision to open the Pentland Firth seabed for applications for commercial marine energy projects to generate more than 700MW of energy by 2020.
He said:
"This is exciting news for Scotlands renewables sector, our environment and economy. These developments are a significant step forward in Scotlands journey to become a world leader in the development of renewable energy.
"The Pentland Firth is the Saudi Arabia of marine power. Our seas alone could provide 25 per cent of Europes tidal power and 10 per cent of wave power. The vast potential of the Pentland Firth will mean more investment, more jobs and more opportunities for the Caithness area.
"The Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership has already taken the lead in harnessing opportunities for the local economy through renewable energy and todays announcements are undoubtedly a real boost to the partnership's work.
"Given the current, global economic pressures, renewable energy is clearly one of Scotland's key, priority areas to help us maintain a resilience to the downturn and ensure we are exploiting all opportunities to help sustainable economic growth.
"Already the Scottish Government has approved 14 renewable projects since May 2007, with 35 more in the pipeline. We have announced the worlds largest single prize for development in marine energy, the Saltire Prize, and in recent weeks I have announced 1 billion pounds in renewable projects such as the Clyde windfarm, a new biomass plant in Fife and extension of the Crystal Rig windfarm.
"Our commitment to enable the successful development of renewable energy on our land and in our seas will not waver. Our ambitions match our potential. We will certainly meet our target to generate at least 31 per cent of Scotlands electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011 and we are well on our way to meeting the 50 per cent target by 2020. Today's exciting developments in marine energy will help us to achieve our goal - to become a global leader in renewables."
Energy statistics
The Scottish Governments Energy Consents Unit is currently processing 35 renewable project applications.
Scottish Government targets are to meet 50 per cent of electricity demand from renewables by 2020, and an interim target of 31 per cent by 2011. Adding the potential energy from consented renewable projects to those already operating the Government is set to surpass the 2011 target.
Total installed capacity of renewables in Scotland is around 2.8 Gigawatts. Installed nuclear capacity is 2 GW. Adding in all the potential energy from already consented renewable projects to those already operating brings the total to 5.5 GW, meaning the Scottish Government is set to surpass the 2011 target.
The Scottish Government has determined 19 energy applications including approval for 14 projects since May 2007 - the same number of determinations as over the whole of the previous four years, in which 19 projects were determined.
The study on untapped hydro potential was carried out for the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland and shows there are still 657 Megawatts of financially viable hydro electricity schemes to exploit. That would power around 600,000 homes and is around half the amount of installed hydro capacity that already exists in Scotland.
In Scotland between 2005 and 2006:
- In 2006, Scotland could have supplied 92 per cent of its electricity needs from non-nuclear sources
- Electricity generated by renewable sources (apart from hydro natural flow) increased by 46 per cent
- As a result of unplanned outages, nuclears share of generation fell from 38 per cent to 26 per cent in Scotland
- Electricity generated in Scotland increased by nine per cent. In 2005, Scotland exported 15 per cent of the electricity generated to consumers elsewhere in the UK, but this rose to 20 per cent in 2006
- Scotland now has a massive 5.5GW of renewable power either working, under construction or consented to build. This represents more than one third of electricity consumption in Scotland
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