Warning of weather impact on targets
Westminster and Edinburgh plans for a huge boost in offshore wind power over the next 10 years have been labelled “a massive if not impossible challenge”.
An all-party Commons committee warned there were too few days left when the North Sea would be calm enough for the single barge capable of erecting turbine towers to do the work.
The report – from the innovation, university, science and skills committee – drew attention to the huge gap between the UK Government target of generating 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2020, and the physical limits to the ability to do that.
The warning followed evidence from former president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Lord Broers, who said fulfilling the strategy would require 10 large turbines to be installed on each of the 60 days a year it is possible to operate until 2020. He said engineering advice on a sensible strategy should have been sought from the start.
The alert was sounded after the committee made a year-long inquiry into the state of engineering in the UK, and concluded much more needed to be done to attract more young people into the profession.
It called for every Westminster department to have an engineer on its board to influence decision-making.
SNP energy spokesman Mike Weir called on both the UK and Scottish governments last night to recruit engineering expertise from the offshore oil and gas industry to advance plans for widespread development of offshore generation, including the multimillion-pound windfarm planned for off the coast near Aberdeen.
The Angus MP said: “Many of the offshore engineering skills required are available in the offshore oil and gas industry and given there is a downturn there is an opportunity for skills transfer to help meet our renewable energy needs in the future.”
The Scottish Government target is to generate 50% of the power Scotland needs from all renewable resources by 2020, with an interim target of 31% by 2011.
A Scottish Government spokesman said that, with 1.5 gigawatts of wind power plans approved, it was already on course to surpass the 2011 target.
He said one of the largest commercial wave farms in the world is to be built off the Western Isles and the Crown Estate has awarded exclusive development rights to 10 developers for offshore wind sites with the potential to generate six gigawatts.
He said: “Scotland already has the engineering strengths and expertise in our universities, research institutes, our North Sea oil and gas industries and burgeoning renewables and clean fossil fuel industries.”
An all-party Commons committee warned there were too few days left when the North Sea would be calm enough for the single barge capable of erecting turbine towers to do the work.
The report – from the innovation, university, science and skills committee – drew attention to the huge gap between the UK Government target of generating 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2020, and the physical limits to the ability to do that.
The warning followed evidence from former president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Lord Broers, who said fulfilling the strategy would require 10 large turbines to be installed on each of the 60 days a year it is possible to operate until 2020. He said engineering advice on a sensible strategy should have been sought from the start.
The alert was sounded after the committee made a year-long inquiry into the state of engineering in the UK, and concluded much more needed to be done to attract more young people into the profession.
It called for every Westminster department to have an engineer on its board to influence decision-making.
SNP energy spokesman Mike Weir called on both the UK and Scottish governments last night to recruit engineering expertise from the offshore oil and gas industry to advance plans for widespread development of offshore generation, including the multimillion-pound windfarm planned for off the coast near Aberdeen.
The Angus MP said: “Many of the offshore engineering skills required are available in the offshore oil and gas industry and given there is a downturn there is an opportunity for skills transfer to help meet our renewable energy needs in the future.”
The Scottish Government target is to generate 50% of the power Scotland needs from all renewable resources by 2020, with an interim target of 31% by 2011.
A Scottish Government spokesman said that, with 1.5 gigawatts of wind power plans approved, it was already on course to surpass the 2011 target.
He said one of the largest commercial wave farms in the world is to be built off the Western Isles and the Crown Estate has awarded exclusive development rights to 10 developers for offshore wind sites with the potential to generate six gigawatts.
He said: “Scotland already has the engineering strengths and expertise in our universities, research institutes, our North Sea oil and gas industries and burgeoning renewables and clean fossil fuel industries.”
Source: The Press and Journal
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