Cash in the wind

The future requirement for the shift to more renewable energy sources has seen many new schemes suggested around the UK. Wind power remains one of the UK’s best resources available for power generation and plans for wind farms have already been mooted for locations around our extensive coastline.

Several regions such as Cumbria and North Wales have already outlined the potential benefits that their areas would experience through their proximity to wind farms out at sea.

Now a new study, commissioned by Scottish Renewables and Scottish Enterprise has reviewed the potential impact that proposed offshore wind farms would have on the Scottish economy. And the future looks good.

Currently there are two operational sites and 10 that were given permission to begin construction in 2009, focused mainly around the North Sea area near Dundee and Edinburgh and off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast. Existing two sites currently have an 185 MW capacity, while the addition of the possible 10 new sites will add an estimated 6.5 GW to this figure, representing around 2.5 percent of the UK’s aggregate energy requirement.

This in itself represents a substantial boost to the economy in terms of power production. The study however estimates that by 2020 there are likely to be around 25 wind farm sites around Scotland’s coastline. And under best circumstances, it is estimated that could lead to the creation of up to 28,000 jobs around the country and boost the Scottish economy by up to £7.1bn by 2020.

This economic benefit, the study suggests, would be spread across a range of industries. The rising number of wind farms being built in the area would see research and development of wind technology in Scotland become a priority. With an existing stock of established university and private R&D departments, it would be relatively easy to springboard existing facilities into this line of research and make profit from it as a result.

Once R&D has been widely established in Scotland, localised manufacturing would then logically follow. Much of the current stock of turbines is currently manufactured in Northern European, yet the more that the Government voices a commitment to wind schemes the more the likelihood of new operations springing up in Scotland grows.

This scenario would be aided by the manufacturing heritage of cities such as Glasgow and areas along the Clyde river where ship yards once existed. With the facilities, required infrastructure and trained work force still residing in the area, wind farm production holds the area would be a sound investment by any company. As such there is huge potential here to boost local and national economies.

The establishment of wind farms out at sea would also see the need for major investment in power infrastructure, ranging from undersea cabling to processing. These areas would contribute greatly to the expected number of jobs created. Once established though, the skills that have been developed by Scottish businesses could then be taken around the world to other sites and projects offering a long term future for jobs.

The possible boost to the Scottish economy could well meet the £7.1bn predicted.Figures from the two existing wind farm projects at Molray Firth and Solway Firth have already shown that around 36 and 11 percent of the respective developments has returned to the Scottish economy. Thus these two projects alone have so far have resulted in £52m being invested in the Scottish economy, with the figure continuing to rise every year. If replicated across the 25 sites expected by 2020 this would meet the gross part of the expected economic boost.

The study is keen to highlight that there are a myriad of variables that will govern this final sum, not least of which is the appetite for government or private investment in schemes given the current economic climate. Performance factors relating to electricity production might also hamper economic benefits. In this sense and in spite the study’s best attempts to predict outcomes, nothing is currently certain in this ever-changing industry.

Yet the research carried out for this study has highlighted the incentives available for getting it right. And though many of the economic benefits have been explored in the study, there will undoubtedly be further knock-on bonuses that are currently unforeseen by many.