LEADING Scottish businessmen Lord Willie Haughey and Sir Tom Hunter believe that Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, situated 27km off the Angus coast in the North Sea’s Firth of Forth, is a prime example of what Scotland is capable of when it comes to renewables.
Seagreen is now fully operational and generating clean, renewable energy to Britain’s power grid. “It’s operating at full capacity and can generate enough electricity to power two-thirds of Scotland’s households,” said Lord Haughey. “This is amazing news. It will displace more than two million tonnes of CO2 each year.”
Sir Tom, meanwhile, called for a “tsar” to lead on renewables in Scotland and “get wind farms sorted” so the nation could lead the world in the sector.
Revealing that his business is creating a device that will reduce people’s energy use by 15-25%, Lord Haughey said it was this type of innovation that was needed ,and more offshore wind farms like Seagreen, not solar panels or heat pumps. “Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater should be on the front pages of the papers saying that this is fantastic news,” he said.
Lord Haughey said that there was a “serious message” for politicians. “If all utilities in Scotland come from renewables, it doesn’t matter how much energy you use in your house,” he noted. “Yes, we want to cut it, but there is no need to buy solar panels and heat pumps.”
Seagreen is a joint venture between TotalEnergies (51%) and SSE Renewables (49%) and was one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken in Scotland. As well as Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, it is also the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm.
According to independent analysis published by PwC, delivery of the project supported a £1 billion-plus boost to the Scottish economy during construction, supporting around 4,000 Scottish jobs.
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