Scottish Government launch £35m wind technology fund
Edinburgh, September 27th 2011
A £35 million fund to support the production of new offshore wind technology, for use in extreme waters around Scotland, was announced today by First Minister Alex Salmond at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference in Edinburgh.
The funding initiative was the highlight of a presentation focussing on the re-industrialisation of Scotland during which Mr Salmond told conference delegates that the £35m injection would 'power' Scotland's renewables revolution. Named 'Prototype Offshore Wind Energy Renewables Support' (POWERS), the fund is aimed at offshore wind turbine manufacturers and carries a clear message that Scotland is a renewable-friendly option for developers.
"As developers and investors look across this global market for certainty and for leadership from government, they can look to Scotland to provide those things," said the First Minister. "We are determined to remain among the most attractive locations for manufacturing, including the prototype testing that follows the R&D phase."
Leveraged to produce up to a further £80 million of private investment, POWERS will run until March 2012, being administered by Scottish Enterprise.
In announcing the new money, the First Minister emphasised that he was talking about wind energy technology which would be capable of performing in deep water locations, 20 or 30 miles offshore. This was the area of technology development that would be really 'critical' to the realisation of Scotland's potential and not, as Mr Salmond put it, 'turbines sitting in a puddle of water' close to land.
The First Minister went on to describe his vision for a re-industrialised Scotland in which the country's Clyde-based ship-building history would be revitalised into a future of wind turbine production and servicing. He also delivered a strong jobs message, stating that employment linked to the low carbon economy could reach 130,000 by 2020, equivalent to over 5% of the Scottish workforce, and pledged that there would be no turning back from the path which his government had set for Scotland's renewables industry.
"Beyond the drive and ambition which the First Minister always brings to this debate, we also got a very clear sense of an industry being challenged to deliver on the targets which have been set," commented Chris Bronsdon, CEO of SEGEC. "Today's presentation, in fact, showed the Scottish Government's commitment on delivery while also encouraging investment groups to engage with us in the actual delivery process. This is crucial to getting the technology out there.
"Some people still regard renewables as a bit of an alternative technology when actually it isn't. The first conference session made this absolutely clear. When you look at the percentage of renewable capacity delivered globally, we're doing everything right. However, we do have to focus on the key technology challenges which will deliver cost reductions to make the industry much more mainstream than it currently is."
Mr Bronsdon also welcomed the POWERS announcement as the unveiling on an extremely timely scheme.
"We are already engaged with a company that has a number of solutions to deliver between a 25% and 40% reduction in cost for offshore wind," he said. "This new fund fits right into this sort of project area. We already had the technology base in Scotland to deliver the solutions we're seeking and we now have the funding to go with it."
by Colin Ley, The Renewables Guardian
