Scotland’s Energy Minister expects to rule on two major offshore wind projects in the Moray Firth “in the next few weeks”.
Fergus Ewing told an industry audience at Scottish Renewables’ annual Offshore Wind and Supply Chain Conference in Aberdeen he would issue determinations on the Moray Offshore and Beatrice arrays following scrutiny by Government lawyers.
The two projects, led by Portuguese-owned EDPR and Perth-based SSE respectively, could lead to billions of pounds being invested in the installation of hundreds of turbines in the sea off Caithness. Together, the projects have a capacity of around 2.5GW and could power the equivalent of more than 1.5 million homes.
Mr Ewing’s decisions will be the first formal planning determinations made over major offshore wind installations in Scottish waters, and will be closely watched by developers hoping to build similar projects in the wider Tay and Forth estuaries further down the east coast.
His pledge follows criticism of the Scottish Government’s record on delivering offshore planning consents within its own guideline time limits. Several projects are still waiting for news long after the expected nine-month window for consideration, led by Marine Scotland, elapsed.
“It’s absolutely essential that each case is assessed strictly on its merits it’s a legal requirement and one of which we are all aware,” Mr Ewing said.
“It’s a robust process and it’s a process which we pursue with a scrupulous regard to the legal requirements to which we are all subject.”
Earlier, in a keynote address, chief executive of Dublin-based developer Mainstream Renewable Power Eddie O’Connor told the conference the Scottish Government and other public authorities must commit more and better staff to delivering renewable energy projects.
“As business people, we understand that the quantity and quality of human resources are critical to the success of any project, but I suspect that neither is up to requirement when it comes to the public management of offshore wind,” said Dr O’Connor, whose firm is behind plans for the 450MW Neart na Gaoithe wind array off the coast of Fife.
His criticism of delays to Marine Scotland’s consenting process came just hours after Scottish Renewables itself raised concerns over the impact of the present impasse over permissions.
Speaking later, Marine Scotland head of licensing Jim McKie said that he “understood entirely and fully appreciated” Dr O’Connor’s concerns.
“We will always look to recruit; we will always look to bring specialism and also expertise to the process,” he said.
“However, I would also make the very clear point to you, in my opinion you would go a long way to get a better group of people working on the current projects.”
Scottish Renewables chief executive Niall Stuart joined Mr Ewing in calling on the UK Government to review its subsidy proposalsunder the Final Investment Decision Enabling for Renewables (FIDeR) scheme, which have so-far excluded offshore wind projects north of the border and are due to be confirmed in the spring.
“There’s a lot of doom and gloom about the potential future of the sector we’re here to discuss,” Mr Stuart said. “What I would say is that all these arguments are here to be won or lost over the next eight weeks.”