SCOTLAND EXPANDS NEW ENERGY STUDY

Wind power centre will keep Scotland in vanguard of renewable energy
Peter Jones, October 8, 2009 (UK Times)

"…Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) [announced] that 300 jobs are to be created over the next three years in a new research and management centre [in Glasgow] for wind farm projects.

"The £20 million project also marks a significant step forward in Scotland’s growing research capabilities into renewable energy, which now encompass several hundred scientists and engineers."

click to enlarge

"SSE said it was joining with the University of Strathclyde, a recognised centre for wind energy, to build a new centre for renewable energy engineering excellence in Glasgow…The centre, which also safeguards 70 existing SSE jobs in renewable energy, will manage the development, design, engineering, project management, procurement and asset monitoring of SSE’s portfolio of onshore and offshore wind farms in Europe.

"The company [already Britain’s largest generator of electricity from renewable sources] is in the second year of a five-year programme to invest £3 billion in renewable energy projects by 2013."

The European Marine Energy Centre off Scotland's Orkney Islands studies cutting edge ocean energies. (click to enlarge)

"Ian Marchant, SSE’s chief executive, said the company had searched throughout Europe for the best site. Glasgow had helped its case, he said, because of the city council’s ambition to make Glasgow Europe’s most sustainable city in 10 years’ time…While a substantial part of the centre’s work will be in managing the engineering of new wind farms, a significant part will also be devoted to making wind energy systems more efficient and robust, and to researching wave and tidal energy systems…

"The centre adds to a growing list of such research facilities in Scotland ranging from the marine energy research site in Orkney, several alternative energy projects in Aberdeen, to a carbon capture and storage research centre in Edinburgh…The Scottish government is helping with the cost of the project with a £2.8 million subsidy from regional selective assistance funds."