Scotland’s goal is to have 50 percent of its energy needs provided from renewable energy by 2020.  To accomplish that goal, Scotland has decided to build two offshore installations to provide wind and wave power to the national grid.

United Press International (UPI) reported that the British division of American company Fluor Corporation along with Scottish company Airtricity have been awarded exclusive rights to develop an offshore wind farm.  The wind farm will be located off of the eastern coast of Scotland and would generate 700 megawatts of energy.

Airtricity already has eight wind farms in Scotland that are producing about 270 megawatts of electricity.  The project with Fluor, is part of Airtricity’s future projects that will generate a further 1,700 megawatts for the United Kingdom.

Fluor provides engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services for its customers.  The wind farm with Airtricity is a welcome project especially in light of the $2.1 billion hit it sustained from the cancellation of a Kuwaiti Refinery contract.  The contract was canceled  because of low oil and natural gas prices that make building the new refinery economically unsound.

Being involved with green energy projects in Europe should provide an ongoing source of revenue for Fluor.  European countries are investing heavily in renewable energy projects with the aim of generating between 30 to 50 percent of their electricity from clean energy sources.

In addition to the wind farm, UPI also reported that Scottish company Aquamarine Power and Fugro Seacore were awarded  the contract to build a wave-energy generator off the coast of Orkney, Scotland.  The Aquamarine Oyster array will be built 550 yards offshore and between 26 and 52 feet deep. The wave generator will provide 300 to 600 megawatts of energy to the national grid.

Unlike other wave-energy mechanisms, the Oyster is a hydro-electric generator.  As each wave comes in, it forces high pressure water through an underwater pipe back to shore where an on shore hydro-electric generator turns it into electricity.  The Oyster is intended to be used in multi-megawatt arrays feeding into one on shore generator.  These mechanisms have a relatively small footprint and contain no toxic substances.

Even without any onshore renewable energy installations like solar arrays or on shore wind farms, the two offshore projects will generate a considerable amount of energy powering the needs of both homes and industry.  Energy generation in the realm of 1,000 to 1,300 megawatts is substantial.

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Entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 8:49 pm under Green Technology.

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