Oil powers alternative energy push

The unit, Renewables UK, will draw on the expertise gained in exploiting Britain’s offshore oil and gas reserves to tap into the booming global market in sustainable energy which, it is hoped, will lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs.

But Brian Wilson, the energy minister, warned yesterday that the "window of opportunity" for British firms to reap the full benefits of the burgeoning market would not remain open for long.

Projections by the World Energy Council indicate that global investment in renewables will be worth between 500 billion and 1,500 billion by 2020. And the government has set a target of delivering 10 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs from renewable sources by the end of 2010.

Mr Wilson said: "Renewables UK is about maximising the benefits of the renewable energy industries to the UK in terms of manufacturing, exporting and jobs. We have a huge opportunity. Renewables UK is about ensuring that we grasp it."

He said that the establishment of Renewables UK drew strong parallels with the government’s decision to set up the Offshore Supplies Office in Aberdeen in 1974 to ensure that British companies played a major role in the developing the supply chain for the fledgling North Sea oil and gas industry.

"If the same concerted, strategic approach is applied to the renewables sector as was applied to oil and gas, we can reap very substantial benefits for this country," said Mr Wilson. "There is a huge amount going on, backed by this government, to encourage the increased use of renewable energy. This increased activity will create massive opportunities for investment and employment.

"The question is whether it will take place in this country or somewhere else. Are we going to be importers of renewables, equipment and technology or are we going to make it here and sell it to the world?

"The window of opportunity for the UK supply chain to take advantage of this market is wide open at present - but will not remain that way for long if we fail to grasp the opportunity. Over the past 20 years, other European countries have gained manufacturing benefits from renewable energy technologies in which the United Kingdom had early leads. I never want to see that happening again. Government departments and support agencies with an interest in renewables must work closely together to bring jobs across the UK from Cornwall to Caithness.

"The benefits of basing Renewables UK in Aberdeen are considerable. It will be able to transfer tools, techniques and experience from oil and gas business support."

The new unit will initially have a staff of six, based at the Department of Trade and Industry’s Aberdeen offices. Its key aims will be to promote Britain as the location of choice as a renewables manufacturing base, to identify and promote export opportunities and to provide accurate and relevant market information.

The decision to set up the new unit in Aberdeen was naturally welcomed by Councillor Len Ironside, the leader of the city’s council. He said: "This is a further endorsement of Aberdeen’s position as the energy capital of Europe."

Donald Murdoch, the director of city development for Aberdeen council, said: "We have been working diligently over the past two years, with industry representatives and our economic development agency partners to develop a strategy to diversify Aberdeen’s economy. Renewable energy and the establishment of a sustainable energy industry in the city is a key component of that strategy."

Anne Begg, the Labour MP for Aberdeen South, also welcomed the announcement. She said: "It is very important that if Aberdeen is to move beyond just the oil and gas industry into the energy development of the 21st century then we have to move into renewables. This is just the start."

Kevin Dunion, the director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Because of the fantastic wind and wave resource we have around Scotland, we should be marketing Scotland as the natural choice to base renewable energies for the future."

WIND POWER A POSITIVE BLOW FOR THE SCOTTISH ECONOMY

SCOTLAND’S 21st major green-energy plant will be producing power by the end of the year following a deal yesterday to secure the country’s latest wind farm.

The 7 million scheme in Kintyre joins six other wind farms being constructed and 12 already operating.

Fifteen turbines will be built at Tangy, near Campbeltown, producing 13 megawatts of electricity.

Elsewhere, renewable energy is being produced at the world’s only commercial wave-power station on Islay, and at a biomass plant fuelled by chicken litter at Cardenden, Fife.

Clusters of further experimental wave-energy plants are planned for off Shetland and Lewis.

The first steps are also being taken to move green energy offshore, with a wind farm planned for five miles into the Solway Firth.

Scotland is seen as having Europe’s biggest potential for wind and wave power, as it is subject to more than a quarter of the continent’s wind. The Scottish executive has estimated that the country could produce nearly ten times as much green power as it needs - hence the huge export potential.

Wind farms have been sprouting north of the Border since 1995, but over the past year there has been an upsurge of applications for ever-larger projects.

Almost 220 turbines are turning across Scotland, from Shetland to the south-west.

The newest scheme, at Beinn an Turc on Kintyre, started operating in December, with its 46 turbines generating 30 megawatts of electricity, or enough for 18,000 homes.

By contrast, five larger projects are either under way or have been proposed, including plans for Europe’s largest wind farm, a 300-turbine monster on Lewis.

The 600 million scheme on the Barvas Moor, near Stornoway, would generate 600 megawatts, or 1 per cent of Britain’s power needs. However, the project is expected to depend on the construction of a 500million subsea cable from the Western Isles down the west coast of Britain for exporting power produced by such projects.

Energy firms have been spurred on by the attractive electricity prices set by the government for green schemes and a requirement that they must produce 10 per cent of their output from such sources by 2010.

The multi-million-pound projects to build windmills several hundred feet high on some of Scotland’s most exposed hillsides create up to 150 construction jobs each, but many fewer permanent posts on each site.

Wind farms have provoked furious opposition from environmental groups and people who live nearby, who believe clusters of turbines create a blot on the landscape and create new hazards for endangered birds.

However, tourist authorities in Wales and Cornwall have found wind farms could become a tourist draw, and the British Wind Energy Association gives directions on its website for people to get the best views.

The Borders has been a major wind-turbine battleground, with locals losing their fight against a 530-acre scheme at Crystal Rig, in the Lammermuirs, last year, after a previously unsuccessful fight to stop one at Dun Law, which now straddles the main A68 Edinburgh-Jedburgh road. Following a similar pattern to other proposals, the developers of the Crystal Rig project, which will comprise 28 turbines up to 324ft high, have offered to plough 30,000 a year into community projects.

Offshore sites may offer a solution to landscape concerns, but they are likely to cost more to build and are less proven in the UK, with the first scheme opening off Blyth in Northumbria only just over a year ago.