Marine Renewable Energy in Scotland:Realising the Potential

21 June 2010

Open Letter from Jamie Hume, Head of Renewables Energy, Scottish Government

Scotland's abundant natural resources, existing expertise, and capacity for innovation and engineering excellence, provide the basis to consolidate our leadership position on action to combat climate change, and to seize the business opportunities created by the transition towards a low carbon economy.   

Last year the Climate Change (Scotland) Act introduced some of the toughest legally binding carbon reduction targets in the world, seeking a 42% reduction in emissions by 2020. Alongside this, our Renewables Action Plan, with a target of meeting 50% of Scotland's electricity consumption from renewable energy resources by 2020, set out the collective actions to be taken in concert between public and private sectors to achieve our shared ambition of creating a world-leading renewable energy sector in Scotland.  

Developments over recent months can give us great confidence about what can be achieved over the next decade. Plans for over 11GW of offshore wind in Scottish waters have been announced - which we believe can bring an estimated £30 billion worth of investment to Scotland's economy. Early this year marine renewables in Scotland took a major step forward when, following the world's first commercial wave and tidal power leasing round, technology developers and major utilities signed agreements to develop marine energy projects with a capacity of up to 1.2GW off the north coast of Scotland by 2020. These are clearly exciting times for Scotland's offshore renewable industries and we're pleased to be playing our part in helping Scotland make the most of this generational opportunity.

Delivering this offshore potential is now key, and the Scottish Government and the enterprise agencies are spearheading a range of initiatives to drive the next phase in the development of Scotland's renewables sector. The National Renewables Infrastructure Plan has identified key port locations to support the growth of offshore renewables, and is currently scoping out investment costs for the identified sites.  Through the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Project we are engaging with the financial sector to find innovative funding solutions. Scotland is also influencing energy policy across Europe through membership of key strategic groups such as the North Seas Offshore Grid Initiative.

This conference provides the opportunity to reflect on what has driven achievements to date, and to explore the further steps we need to take to develop the jobs, skills and low carbon industries of the future, right here in Scotland

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