Moray Firth windfarm takes a step closer to realisation

Moray’s largest proposed offshore windfarm has taken a step closer to reality today with the awarding of a contract which will enable it to sell electricity.

Two Scottish renewable energy projects have been awarded 15-year contracts after a UK government auction.

The Contract for Difference Award, means the Moray East windfarm will be able to produce and sell up to 950MW of electricity, which is about enough to power 950,000 homes.

It’s an important milestone for the project, first granted consent in 2014.

Chair of Moray Council’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr John Cowe, has welcomed the announcement.

“I’m delighted that we have reached another key milestone in this development. Buckie harbour is ideally placed given its location and facilities to support this massive infrastructure project"

“This is an exciting opportunity for the town and builds on our recent success of extending the shipyard and increased activity in the harbour - particularly over the last six months - to support the construction of the Beatrice Windfarm, also in the Moray Firth"

"Buckie harbour is ideally placed given its location and facilities"

The other project to benefit is a biomass heat and power plant to be built in Grangemouth.

Contracts are awarded after an auction for subsidies in which the lowest bidder wins, and are awarded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The joint project by EDP Renovaveis and the Engie consortium is scheduled to start generating power in 2022/23.

Two firms said they were willing to build offshore wind farms for a subsidy of £57.50 per megawatt hour for 2022/23 in the latest auctions.

Scottish Renewables said the wind farm bid showed there had been a "dramatic" drop in the cost of the technology.

Their deputy chief executive, Jenny Hogan, said: "The results of this latest auction are good news for Scotland, for our environment and for our energy system.

"The cost reductions seen in offshore wind in particular have been dramatic and are testament to the determination of developers to drive down costs.

"The scale of innovation taking place across the sector and its growing supply chain show the importance of ensuring a viable, competitive route to market is available for clean power technologies."

UK government figures show the cost of subsidies for new offshore wind farms has halved since the last 2015 auction for clean energy projects.

Scottish Renewables said energy from offshore wind in the UK was due to be cheaper than electricity from new nuclear power for the first time.