Scotland to back all forms of renewables
ABERDEEN, Scotland, June 1, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)
Scotland is determined to support all forms of renewable energy, according to the deputy first minister of the Scottish Executive.
“Power from biomass, rivers, the tide and from sunlight can all make a
valuable contribution to Scotland's renewable future,” says Jim Wallace.
“They can all help cut the harmful emissions that cause climate change”
while also creating jobs.
“You don't have to spend long in Scotland to realise we have tremendous
natural resources to exploit,” he told the World Renewable Energy Congress.
“There's no shortage of wind in this country, but we also have a massive
expanse of coastline, huge areas of woodland and miles and miles of rivers.”
“Even a brief consideration of this huge potential for generating power shows
we would be foolish to rely just on one source,” he said. “Today, I can
demonstrate practically that this is not the case. We are not placing all our
eggs in one basket - wind energy will only be part of a mix of sources if we are
to meet our target of ensuring 40% of electricity generated in this country
comes from renewable sources by 2020.”
"The technology behind renewable energy is new, innovative and rapidly
developing; we are determined to be at the heart of this development on a global
scale,” and that goal is one of the reasons that Scotland established the
Intermediary Technology Institute Energy. He announced that the institute will
invest £1 million in a project to investigate the use of hydrogen as an energy
store, and later went to a school to open the largest solar heating installation
in Britain, where 60 panels with total collector surface of 180 m2 were
installed at a cost of £100,000 from Aberdeen City Council to reduce CO2
emissions by 30 tonnes per year.
"Hydroelectric power stations have long played a vital role in generating
power for Scottish homes,” and the 3 MW station on River E near Loch Ness has
received approval from the Executive. “I can confirm the Executive is now
looking at how, rather than whether, we should fund biomass development in
Scotland,” and further details will be released soon.
The European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney was opened last August and now has
confirmed funding, and is “already the established facility for the testing of
wave energy conversion devices” and work on extending the facility to include
testing facilities for tidal energy devices will begin in June and is expected
to be completed by December.
The £6 million centre will receive £2 million from the European Regional
Development Fund and £1 million from the Scottish Executive, as well as £1
million from the Highlands & Islands Enterprise network, £812,000 from the
Carbon Trust, £700,000 from the Department of Trade & Industry, £600,000
from Scottish Enterprise and £500,000 from the Orkney Islands Council.
“All this does not mean we are ignoring on and off shore wind power,”
Wallace explained. “Clearly, as a developed, relatively cheap technology, wind
energy can and will play a major role in meeting our targets. What today
demonstrates is that we are committed to developing the whole wide range of
renewable technologies. Each has a contribution to make and we are determined to
support them all, every step of the way.”
Aberdeen is hosting the ninth annual WREC for 500 delegates from 100 countries.
Last year, WREC met in Denver, Colorado.
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