Fife has cemented its place as Scotland’s “most exciting renewable energy powerhouse” following developments in the industry this week, a senior councillor has said.
Tony Martin, Fife’s environment, enterprise and transport chairman, believes the region is already taking advantage of the opportunities being thrown up by the renewable energy sector-and is well positioned to do likewise in future.
He was speaking after the opening of the £4.7 million Hydrogen Office at Fife Energy Park, expected to become one of Europe’s leading locations for innovation and the development of renewable energy.
As well as generating enough electricity and hydrogen for heating and lighting the Hydrogen Office, it is expected to support sufficient electricity to meet the annual energy demands of the Methil Docks Business Park.
“Fife is a huge contributor to Scotland’s burgeoning renewable energy industry,” said Mr Martin.
“The region is the natural choice for renewables industry development, with training facilities at Carnegie and Adam Smith colleges, research specialists at the University of St Andrews and the development of carbon capture and storage at Longannet power station.”
He continued, “In Burntisland Fabrications Ltd, Fife has Scotland’s largest fabricator of subsea structures for the renewable energy industry. Added to this, we are only 25 nautical miles from the closest of the three large wind arrays proposed in the Firth of Forth.
“The Hydrogen Office will help to pioneer what could be seen as this sector’s holy grail the ability to store renewable energy and use it at a later date, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.”
The opening follows a number of positive announcements for Fife, including news that Tyneside marine firm Shepherd Offshore is to create a manufacturing facility in Dunfermline, and Burntisland Fabrications’ (BiFab) £12m announcement that it is to build two offshore substations for RWE npower.
BiFab has also announced it is part of a new offshore wind alliance drawn up by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) which aims to meet the challenges of high capital costs and supply chain sustainability.
Joining the partnership are two Siemens firms, Subsea 7 Ltd and Atkins.