Harnessing the winds of change

January saw the first round of offshore wind leasing in Scottish waters for a decade with the Scotwind auction, and Scottishpower was awarded seabed rights for three offshore projects totalling 7GW.

That’s a significant step towards the government’s target for 50GW to come from harnessing offshore wind by 2030, more than enough to power every home in the UK.

The two large-scale floating projects in partnership with Shell in the north-east of Scotland, along with one solo fixed-base project near Islay, will treble Scottishpower’s offshore wind pipeline.

“This is tremendously exciting,” says Charlie Jordan, chief executive of Scottishpower Renewables. “The projects will be able to power more than double the capacity needed for Scotland.”

But, with investment cycles outlasting any political term, he warns of the need to make sure the UK is not left behind. “In Scotland, we have a wonderful opportunity to be on the front foot in terms of floating wind, and it is about making sure that we don’t lose momentum and we capitalise on that and keep ourselves at the cutting edge,” he says. “We need to activate change and do it quickly.

“We do need to remind people we are in a climate emergency; we do need to move away from fossil fuels. And we need to do that at speed.

“Combatting climate change is just one driver – given the political landscape, with what is happening across Europe, we need to secure our energy supply. And with that comes opportunity – by creating more renewable energy, we can make an immediate impact with more homegrown green electricity that will help reduce costs and the cost of electricity to our consumers. And at the same time, it brings tremendous economic and social benefits.”

Charlie continues: “That is one of the things that I enjoy most about this job – knowing that you are doing something for the greater good over the longer term. You see the immediate benefits to society in terms of jobs created, in terms of training, and investing in and growing a supply chain – creating a whole industry for the future.”