'Oceans offer Scottish energy boom to match North Sea oil'

Published Date: 21 March 2009
By HAMISH MACDONELL
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

SCOTLAND'S waters could give the country as big an economic boost as North Sea oil, Alex Salmond, the First Minister, said yesterday.
Mr Salmond said the oil industry had brought the country its "first energy windfall", and that offshore renewables could have a similar impact.The First Minister said: "Today, Scottish waters present a second energy windfall – offshore renewables."Mr Salmond used his speech to the Scottish Council for Development and Industry's conference in St Andrews to highlight some of the progress being made in the sector – including the granting of consent for the one of the world's largest commercial wave farms off the Western Isles.In addition, more than 40 companies have registered an interest with the Crown Estate to develop wave and tidal energy projects in the Pentland Firth and its surrounding waters.And the Scottish Government's Saltire Prize – £10 million award for innovation in renewable marine energy – has attracted 94 registrations of interest from 23 countries.Mr Salmond told the conference: "Scotland has a fantastic competitive advantage in developing offshore renewables – with a quarter of Europe's tidal and offshore wind energy resource, and a world-class scientific capacity and skills base."Developers are competing to build offshore wind farms at ten sites around Scotland, with the potential to generate a massive six gigawatts of power."Never before have we been so well placed to become the green energy capital of Europe – with offshore renewables set to (produce] an economic boost as significant as North Sea oil."The First Minister spoke of the "limitless" potential of green energy, which he said could create some 16,000 jobs over the next decade.He went on: "We need to look beyond the current crisis, focus on our comparative advantages – and pursue a new path in a positive direction."We need to have an eye to the future, and Scotland's future in renewables is very bright indeed."The First Minister also used his speech to make a fresh call for Scotland to have greater financial powers."The current financial downturn illustrates the importance of capi-talising on our unique assets," he argued."To do that, we need to be able to take responsibility for the advantages we have and the tools to promote them. "We need fiscal reflation – the power to help our economy to grow and to shape our own future."We need the power to reject the costs, risks and uncertainties of nuclear power and focus on our strengths."Ultimately it is only through independence that Scotland can achieve its full potential."