SSE threat to pull out of off-shore energy projects could kill sea wind bonanza – The Herald

David Ross
Highland Correspondent

THOUSANDS of potential jobs and billions of pounds earmarked for Scotland’s
offshore wind-energy industry are in the balance after one of the
industry’s biggest players announced a review of its whole strategy.
POTENTIAL: Industry experts say Scotland could produce enough electricty
from offshore wind farms to power three million homes. Picture: Getty

SSE’s veiled threat to pull out of its existing commitments, including
planned schemes near Islay, in the Firth of Forth, and at Hunterston in
North Ayrshire, comes as it remains on course to make £1.5 billion profits
this year.

The Perth-based energy giant is to announce a decision on the future of the
projects after conducting a two-month review.

There are already warnings Scotland is in danger of throwing away its
opportunity in the offshore renewables industry and the move has also
strained relations between Holyrood and Westminster.

Lindsay Leask, senior policy manager for the industry body Scottish
Renewables, said: “Despite having all the right ingredients to build a
world-class offshore wind sector there is growing unease from developers
because they feel they are being held back from delivering projects.

“With around five gigawatts of potential offshore wind development in
planning – enough to meet the annual demand of three million homes – we
can’t afford to see these projects, and the investment decisions related to
them, left in limbo.”

SSE blamed the review on the UK Government’s failure to include two of its
other major developments in an initial subsidy.

One was the £3bn Beatrice wind farm off the Caithness coast, in which the
firm has a 75% stake. It would have between 142 and 277 turbines. The
Galloper wind farm off Suffolk, in which SSE has a 50% interest, was the other.

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said last month
neither were on its list of 10 projects which could share £4.5 billion of
subsidies.

SSE’s announcement follows Scottish Power’s last month that it was
abandoning the massive £5.4bn Argyll Array Offshore Wind Farm off the coast
of Tiree, saying offshore wind technology would not make this viable within
the next decade.

A statement from Perth-based SSE said the company was “disappointed” the
Galloper and Beatrice projects have not been included in the provisional
list of projects to get cash under the funding block known as Final
Investment Decision Enabling for Renewables from by the UK Government.

As a result SSE “will complete a wide-ranging review of its offshore wind
development portfolio by the end of this financial year and will report on
its conclusions then.”

The firm said this was one example of why there was greater uncertainty
about the “shape and extent” of SSE’s capital and investment programme in
the five years from 2015, and added it was likely to be lower than the
£1.5bn to £1.7bn invested in each year since 2010.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Final Investment Decision
enabling plans are flawed. They were made with zero consultation with the
Scottish Government, and must be revisited. If not, then the UK Government
should explain why so much support is being directed towards new nuclear
technology, instead of helping Scotland harness its green energy potential.

“Instead of putting barriers in the way of Scottish offshore wind
deployment the UK Government should be providing support …The UK Government
promised that we would be consulted. This promise was broken.”

Nobody was available from the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

Linda Holt, spokeswoman for anti-windfarm campaign Scotland Against Spin
said: “The rest of the UK has 18 operational [offshore]wind farms; Scotland
has two.

“Despite the Scottish Government spending over £10 million on test sites
and other incentives, offshore wind development is at least six years
behind schedule.”