Matheson: Surging gas prices brings Scottish offshore wind imperative
Surging gas prices throws into “sharp relief” the need to ramp up Scottish offshore wind and hydrogen, the energy minister will say later.
Surging gas prices throws into “sharp relief” the need to ramp up Scottish offshore wind and hydrogen, the energy minister will say later.
Crown Estate Scotland is seeking “formal assurances” that winners in the ScotWind auction adhere to sanctions being imposed on Russia.
The last six months or so have really emphasised the importance of every part of the energy ‘trilemma’.
Now the confetti has settled from the Crown Estate’s ScotWind auction results, it’s time to look at what support is still needed to help ScotWind’s local stakeholders take advantage of the opportunity
The spread of offshore wind farms in Scotland could dent a key Shetland net zero project, which is working to decarbonise nearby oil and gas assets.
A ScotWind-style auction will be launched this year for offshore wind projects to power oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.
Aker Solutions will create 200 UK jobs this year as part of a drive into renewables and low carbon oil and gas projects.
Crown Estate Scotland (CES) has announced that its chief executive is to retire in August this year.
Aberdeen-headquartered Apollo is looking to capitalise on Scotland’s burgeoning renewables sector with the opening of a new office.
Europe is too reliant on Russian gas. In fact, Europe is too reliant on gas full stop but it being mainly Russian gas makes it even more problematic.
Evaluating the company’s 2021 results, executives from the Norwegian energy giant spoke of their disappointment at not securing capacity in the recent ScotWind auction, but said it would not change their renewables strategy.
Don’t fritter away Scotland’s ScotWind millions, argues former energy minister Brian Wilson, on the £700m coming to the country's coffers.
Momentum is building within the UK’s energy sector and the blue economy.
When Crown Estate Scotland announced the outcome of its application process for ScotWind Leasing in January, it marked the first Scottish offshore wind leasing round in over a decade. It also demonstrated one of many ways our industry is actively focused on reducing its carbon footprint.
“You would like to think it was good planning,” joked Neil Gordon, chief executive of the Global Underwater Hub (GUH), “but I think it’s just fortunate that, at the moment, it looks as if everything has landed well for us.”
“More energy and less emissions” is how TotalEnergies’ North Sea boss summarises the company’s strategy for the coming years. And that, broadly speaking, is reflected across the plans of others too.
The UK government announced it will be offering more than £31 million of UK government funding, matched by more than £30 million of industry funding, for development of innovative floating offshore wind technologies this week.
Forth Ports has announced a series of new leadership appointments as its senior team is restructured to reflect the growing role of ports in the offshore renewables sector.
I’m a little bemused. Inevitably the ScotWind lease awards were going to trigger all sorts of claims about how the Scottish offshore wind supply chain will gain from this huge project, but nobody seems prepared to explain exactly how this will happen given that we don’t actually have a supply chain of any note particularly when it comes to the high value hardware.
Aberdeen-headquartered OEG Offshore has acquired temporary power, engineering and vessel specialist Manor Renewable Energy.
Aberdeen firms are among a set of innovators who have secured up to £10 million each as part of new UK Government funding to accelerate the development of floating offshore wind technologies.
The first candidates have been selected for X-Academy, a new training initiative backed by Sir Ian Wood and BP.
Masdar did not win a piece of the ScotWind action this week, but the company is keenly interested in further offshore wind opportunities in the UK.
Stephen Wheeler, Managing Director of SSE Renewables, one of the big ScotWind winners, says the next generation of Scottish offshore wind will impact globally while transforming locally.
Nicola Sturgeon accused opponents of “girning” about major offshore wind investment in a row over human rights, profits and selling off access “on the cheap”.