WORK


RENEWABLE DEVELOPMENTS Scotland’s strengths in the


OTHER


renewable energy industry are not just restricted to wind, wave and tidal: it has long been a


leader in hydroelectric power and is also pioneering work into fuel cells, solar power and bioenergy.


On the farm


Developing renewable power from onshore wind farms is well established in Scotland and over half of Scotland’s renewable energy capacity comes from around 80 wind farms, providing 2GW of electricity across the country. However, the total number of onshore wind energy projects planned or under construction in Scotland over the next few years will total 7.4GW. One of the high-profile projects is the


Whitelee wind farm near Glasgow, which is Europe’s largest wind farm generating 322MW of electricity. This will increase to 539MW from 215 turbines when a planned expansion is complete. In terms of challenges, the new frontier


for engineering in renewable power is in the offshore sector. This potential is now being realised through leasing agreements with the Scottish and UK Governments and energy developers for areas around the UK coast. The technology of offshore wind energy


generation has been proven in Scottish waters already through the 180MW Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth, in the south of the country, and the deepwater offshore wind demonstrator at the Beatrice Oilfield in the Moray Firth near Inverness. Following the recent leasing agreements,


around 10GW of capacity has been earmarked for offshore wind development off Scotland’s shores. Work is now underway to identify further lease sites for up to another 10GW. This represents a huge increase in renewables capacity for Scotland over the next two decades, and great opportunities for engineering careers. Scottish Renewables says this industry


could create around 20,000 direct jobs in Scotland by 2020, representing several billion pounds of direct investment into the economy.


Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, the world’s largest test and demonstration centre for marine energy devices. Two of the most developed pioneering devices on trial include Aquamarine Power’s underwater ‘oyster’ wave device and Pelamis Wave Power’s floating oscillating device. Marine renewables was given a


major boost in 2010 when the Scottish Government launched its £10 million Saltire Prize – an award which will go to the company that can develop a device by


2017 that outputs the greatest volume of electricity over a continuous two-year period using the power of the sea. Scottish Renewables said there is a huge appetite for marine renewables off Scotland’s coasts. There are currently agreements for leasing 11 sites in the Pentland Firth and Orkney area totalling 1.6GW, involving six wave and five tidal stream projects.


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