As the only Scottish winner at the 2020 UK Maritime Awards, the Port of Cromarty Firth is clearly making major waves, with new wind, hydrogen and Freeport projects aiming to usher in a carbon-free future for the Highlands.
The Highlands is known throughout the world as an area of outstanding natural beauty, with stunning coastlines and abundant natural resources. Among them is the Cromarty Firth, with its deep, sheltered waters.
These waters are home to the Port of Cromarty Firth, a national strategic asset which drives economic growth, prosperity and opportunity to the Highlands and Scotland.
For years the Port has worked hard to balance industry with nature. A Trust Port, meaning all profits are reinvested into its development by its Board, it is focused on sustainably developing, improving and safeguarding the Cromarty Firth to benefit all stakeholders; from communities to businesses, as well as its staff, customers and local and national Government.
This effort was recognised by its peers at the Maritime UK Awards, where it was named Coastal Powerhouse and Business of the Year. The awards were a fitting reward for this dedication to the local area, both industrial and environmental.
Chief among the Port’s work is to provide the infrastructure to support Scotland’s drive towards becoming a carbon neutral nation by 2045. Over the past seven years, Port of Cromarty Firth has invested more than £50 million in its infrastructure, specifically targeted at the growing opportunities in offshore renewables.
These facilities were recently named ‘Quay West’ by HRH The Princess Royal in an official visit to the Port, where she toured its facilities and the Cromarty Firth on the Port’s pilot boat, Dalmore.
They include one of the largest open laydown capacities in the UK, deep-water berths and sheltered anchorages. These are suitable for accommodating the largest offshore wind components, such as turbine blades, tower sections and foundations, as well as the biggest offshore support vessels.
However, more work is needed as the drive towards a clean energy future gathers pace. With Scotland’s energy generation now standing at nearly 100% renewable, the nation stands on the brink of a clean energy revolution that could see it not only fulfil its carbon neutral ambitions but also become a leading exporter of clean energy and associated expertise and technologies to other parts of the world.
It’s a revolution that is predicted to be worth more than £26 billion to the economy over the next 50 years.
Over the past 12 months the Port has recognised that Scotland is at a place in history where a real change can be made – a change that can be embraced by everyone, providing the needs of the region to live, work and trade as productively as never before, but in a way that does not damage our planet and instead safeguards it for future generations.
At the epicentre of this is the rapid expansion in renewable projects off Scotland’s shores, future multi-billion pound offshore renewable energy projects, including the ScotWind leasing round which awards leases for future offshore wind developments.
Bob Buskie, Chief Executive of the Port of Cromarty Firth, says the Port, with its deep natural waters, is uniquely positioned to support this expansion: “The opportunities are vast and their importance to the Cromarty Firth, the Highlands, Scotland and beyond cannot be underestimated.
“These developments would help fulfil Scotland’s net zero carbon ambitions, and bring skilled jobs and high-wage opportunities to the Highlands on a level not seen since the oil boom of the 1970s.
“We have already developed a substantial track record in renewables and supported more offshore wind projects than any other Scottish location. But such is the size and scope of this operation that we cannot act alone.
“For our industry to fully capitalise on this breadth of ambition, we need to collaborate, pool our resources, and ensure through partnerships that the infrastructure and technologies are created in Scotland to meet this overwhelming demand to decarbonise.”
The Port is involved in two collaborations that could dramatically change the landscape of energy generation, bringing with it skilled jobs and a sustainable 50-year pipeline of work. Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF) is a partnership of private, public sector and academic bodies committed to ensuring the Cromarty Firth becomes a ‘green port’ – the Scottish Government’s vision of a Freeport. Plans are in place to create up to 10 freeports across the UK which will have unique operational, regulatory and customs rules.
A future based on renewables is at the heart of this collaboration. OCF believes that the creation of a Cromarty Firth freeport would provide significant economic momentum and job opportunities in a post-COVID, post-Brexit and post-North Sea Oil Scotland.
Already OCF is looking to the future by setting up The PowerHouse, a global centre of excellence in the Highlands managed by Mina Hanna, a former petroleum and renewable energy sources engineer. The PowerHouse will develop innovative applied research and development in the fields of floating offshore wind and green hydrogen. It will also act as a specialist educational hub to provide training for school children, students and workers interested in the renewable energy sectors, throughout the Highlands and beyond.
This educational provision will boost awareness and interest among the next generation on the future benefits and capabilities of this technology, and also provide the opportunity for existing workers from other industries, such as oil and gas and nuclear sectors, to transition into renewable energy.
The Port has also created the North of Scotland Hydrogen Programme, a collaboration that aims to create a green hydrogen hub in the Highlands as a viable, carbon-free fuel for local industries, as well as storing and transporting it to other locations both within the UK and abroad – creating a new, lucrative market for Scotland.
The creation of a hydrogen economy is firmly on the radar of the Scottish Government, which last year set a target for Scotland to become a leading nation in hydrogen, generating 5GW of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030 – enough to power the equivalent of 1.8 million homes. It also set aside £100 million over the next five years to start realising this ambition.
The programme recognises the huge benefits that establishing green hydrogen production from offshore wind could bring. It would help overcome Scotland’s grid constraints and unlock a massive clean power generation resource, creating a clean fuel for industry and domestic households and feeding a rapidly-growing UK and European market.
The region has established itself as a ‘hydrogen valley’ – a geographical area where several applications involved in the process of hydrogen combine into an integrated ecosystem, and is looking to provide a security of supply that can allow businesses and organisations wanting access to the clean energy to have the confidence to switch their infrastructure.
This would be achieved through constructing a large-scale onshore electrolysis facility, powered by electricity from renewable sources, based within the Cromarty Firth – thanks to its excellent proximity to the 15 sites identified for future offshore wind and floating offshore wind projects.
The programme’s partners, energy firms ScottishPower and Pale Blue Dot Energy, the Port of Cromarty Firth, plus drinks firms Glenmorangie, Whyte and Mackay, and Diageo, are currently researching the opportunity to establish an onshore electrolyser to provide distilleries in the region with hydrogen to assist in decarbonising their heating.
The programme also wants to make use of the Port of Cromarty Firth’s current infrastructure to store and transport the hydrogen in large quantities using bulk scale carriers, balancing supply and demand and enabling the hydrogen market to expand more quickly.
Bob Buskie adds: “Green hydrogen is clearly the future, but at the moment it is expensive when produced at small scale. Sectors looking to adopt it as an energy source need an established and reliable supply at a realistic cost.
“To combat this, the Port has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Norwegian firm Gen2 Energy AS to create a commercial pathway to import green hydrogen from Norway into the UK energy market.
“This partnership will provide a security of supply for the electrolyser facility, and will guarantee green hydrogen to those who want access to the clean energy by mid-2023, so they have the confidence to make concrete plans to begin switching their infrastructure.”
While the future is full of grand visions and exciting plans, it can be easy to overlook what is done in the present. The Port is busy making sure it looks after the environment in its day-to-day activities. Office buildings are being upgraded with a focus on improved insulation and less running costs, electric alternatives are replacing diesel vans and trucks, recycling schemes, LED lighting and battery storage and hydrogen fuelling stations for vessels and port users are either under way or in planning.
Bob Buskie concludes: “The Cromarty Firth is a beautiful part of the Highlands, and the Port understands its responsibilities to maintain this area for generations to come.
“Our vision of working collaboratively with both public and private sector organisations to realise our clean energy potential, and provide high-quality employment opportunities while meeting Scotland’s net zero carbon and hydrogen goals will do just that.”
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CASE STUDY: Moray Firth Coastal Partnership
Opportunities on horizon for local communities living by the Moray Firth
THE Moray Firth coast is a beautiful stretch of North Sea coastline, 500 miles in length, spanning from Duncansby Head to Fraserburgh, home to a diverse range of habitats and species including bottlenose dolphins, minke whales, terns, guillemot, kittiwake and puffins.
In 1996, the inner Moray Firth was designated a Special Area of Conservation. Born from that was the Moray Firth Coastal Partnership (MFCP), formerly the Moray Firth Partnership.
For 25 years, MFCP has worked towards balancing the needs of nature with the needs of its community – from urban Inverness to fishing villages and ports.
This has been achieved by working collaboratively with partners from the public and private sector, academia and government, for the betterment of the Moray Firth.
Among them are Port of Cromarty Firth, Aberdeenshire Council, University of Aberdeen and Marine Scotland.
MCFP’s current vision is to become the most sustainable marine region in Scotland by 2030.
MCFP Partnership Manager Natalie Palmer explains: “The charity works for a sustainable future for both the Moray Firth and its communities.
“Our aims are related to our people and places, our seas and our coasts. All need to be considered to provide a just transition to net zero.”
This ‘just’ transition is geared towards producing a blue economy that balances the needs of the environment with the needs of each and every Moray Firth community.
The blue economy focuses on developing clean energy from a range of sources from offshore wind, solar, tidal and wave energy.
Natalie says MFCP will be working with the wider public sector to deliver a blue economy for the area, supporting a just transition to net zero and economic recovery from Covid and Brexit, while sustainably meeting the needs of the competing forces in the area – both human and marine.
Natalie said: “This transition is a real challenge.
“The reduction in the oil and gas sector, for instance, has resulted in a loss of jobs.
“However, businesses and organisations, including Opportunity Cromarty Firth and Port of Cromarty Firth, are rightly focusing on the wealth of opportunities that renewables will bring – from offshore wind to green hydrogen for local businesses to use as a source of energy instead of fossil fuels.
“This in turn creates huge opportunities for local people. We want to see these opportunities spread equally around our diverse community stakeholders. We also don’t want to see future offshore wind developments lead to the exclusion of other groups from areas of the sea where windfarms are built.
“Above all, we want a clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse marine and coastal environment. Together with our partners we can deliver this.”
If you are interested in the work of MFCP, you can become a member of the charity by visiting the website and signing up to become a 'Friend of the Firth'
www.morayfirth-partnership.org
This article is brought to you in association with Port of Cromarty Firth as part of The Herald's 100 Days of Hope campaign.
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