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Energy: Meygen, the company behind the proposed 400MW tidal energy site between Stroma and the Caithness coast, has begun its consenting phase of work. I met with Meygen’s Environment & Consents Manager, who has been helped this week by colleagues at DSRL to circulate information on the company’s forthcoming public open days to gather comments […]
Energy: Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP Rob Gibson raised in the Scottish Parliament the issue of the impending departure of The Crown Estate’s Wave & Tidal Project Manager currently based in Thurso. In his reply Scottish Government Minister Richard Lochhead acknowledged the representations being made from the north on this issue. I have described previously […]
Energy: An indication of the ever-increasing interest in renewables in Scotland was an event held at Rosyth this week, hosted jointly by Babcock and Carnegie College. Entitled “The Power of Partnerships” the one-day conference focused on offshore wind and had a keynote address from Fergus Ewing MSP less than 24 hours after his appointment as […]
Energy: The international All Energy Exhibition & Conference took place in Aberdeen this week, with a strong presence from companies from Caithness. Most of the Caithness-related stands in the exhibition hall were part of the Caithness Chamber of Commerce/ Invest Caithness presence in the “HI-Energy pavilion” co-ordinated by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It was good […]
Energy: The UK Coalition Government this week forwarded 12 projects from the UK to the EU’s €4.5 bn carbon capture and renewables scheme. Of the 12 projects forwarded, five companies involved in wave and tidal development in the Pentland Firth/ Orkney Waters will be involved (Marine Current Turbines, Meygen, Scottish Power Renewables/ Hammerfest Strom, Pelamis […]
Energy: A joint North of Scotland Industries Group/ Caithness Chamber of Commerce event on marine energy was held in North Highland College. The event was attended by businesses from across the Highlands and into Grampian area, including some oil & gas companies with developing interests in renewables. A number of presentations including ones from Crown […]
Business Services: I will be coordinating a meeting this week with representatives from the Pensions Administration Office to update local stakeholders on plans to move the PAO’s base from Thurso to the Forss Business & Technology Park. The work done by staff at the PAO is a good example of the type of high-quality employment […]
Energy: Following discussions at the CNSRP Executive Board about the value of pursuing additional mechanisms to encourage inward investment into the area, CNSRP Chairman Sir Anthony Cleaver has this week written to Rt Hon George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to ask for support in making Caithness and North Sutherland one of the 10 […]
Energy: Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP was asked by John Thurso MP during Scottish Questions at Westminster this week to support his calls for Caithness to become one of the UK’s first Marine Energy Parks. The coalition Government announced this idea recently, and there is a desire in the area to take […]
Programme activities: Energy: I continue to discuss ways in which the area’s assets can be maximised in relation to the marine energy sector. This week discussions have taken place with Highland Council and HIE staff regarding how we might approach Government to make the case for some form of enterprise zone status for the area, […]