Scotland Must Plan for Renewable Energy

Sep 06 - Scotsman, The

If Scotland is to become a net exporter of energy rather than importer of its future energy needs, then urgent action is required to speed up planning decisions, enlarge the power grid and create partnerships within the industry to encourage the growth of the renewables sector.

This is the view of Alan Baker, chief executive of Airtricity in Scotland, responsible for the development, construction and operation of more than 1000MW of renewable projects and one of the leading developers of wind farms in the UK.

"Scotland has a real opportunity to harness wind energy and be a net exporter rather than importer of its future energy needs, in a market where security of supply is of key concern," he says.

"The country can benefit financially from the supply chain infrastructure required to support a vibrant renewables sector. Where feasible, we have used companies with a Scottish base to help fulfil our construction and maintenance needs and this has delivered around GBP 15 million per annum into the Scottish economy and is helping to support 200 jobs."

But he warned the biggest issue now is the lack of a turbine manufacturer.

"We are working on a joint initiative to try and attract a developer into Scotland. There are still objections to windfarms but the problems really relate to the planning system being so slow and under-resourced so can take up to three years for a decision.

"Add to that the problems of enlarging the national grid, which requires more overhead powerlines, and you have a system that needs overhauled."

With a background as a chartered civil engineer, Baker has been involved in the energy business for over 15 years at companies including ScottishPower. Since he set up the Scottish arm of Irish- owned Airtricity in Glasgow in 2000, the workforce has grown to more than 45.

Airtricity has nine wind farms in operation in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and is developing wind farms, both onshore and offshore, in Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland and in the United States and Canada. Baker believes there is potential to exploit offshore windfarms but with deep water around our coasts, it could take ten to 15 years to develop the necessary technology.

"Offshore will come to Scotland - but we need to invest in more wave and tidal. This is a real opportunity but we have to prove the technology works and not let it drift to another country," he says.

Baker operates two wind farms in Scotland - a 12 turbine farm at Ardrossan in North Ayshire and a 36 turbine site at Braes of Doune, near Stirling, while two more are under construction at Dalswinton and Minsca in Dumfries and Galloway. He has seven sites in the planning process, including a 161 turbine one in the Clyde Valley between Biggar and Moffat - this site in particular, says Baker, is of massive strategic import.

"The scale of the wind farm and the impact it would have in helping to meet Scotland's renewable energy targets means that it is of national significance. Large-scale sites must play a role in meeting targets and in minimising the overall environmental impact of wind farms in Scotland."

His calls for more industry support were echoed by the news that the First Minister, Alex Salmond, has agreed that there is an urgent need to invest in renewables. Scottish companies will be among those invited by the EU energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, to Brussels this month to lobby for further financial support for renewables.

The First Minister said Scotland's renewable potential will be at the core of economic decision making.

"Use of renewable energy must and will expand. I welcome and support the EU target of 20 per cent of energy to be from renewable sources by 2020," he said.

Joint partnerships, which Baker argues are the way forward, were also highlighted by Salmond on Tuesday at an oil and gas conference in Aberdeen. He said there are projects proposed by Scottish & Southern Electricity and oil giant BP, where is extracted from gas prior to combustion and stored, leaving hydrogen to produce electricity. In another project by ScottishPower, is sequestered after combustion.

Salmond said: "This is a technology which the UK and world needs, and in which Scotland can be a world leader. We can see subsea grid connections to other parts of Europe allowing direct export of renewable energy. We can see a future where Scotland can become a leader in sustainable energy; a place where other countries can come to learn about emerging technologies. It requires vision and a clear medium term plan."