Here you will find out all of our latest updates through News and Blog pages.
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Energy: Along with a number of other stakeholders, I attended two events this week related to the development of renewable energy. The first was the public consultation on the proposed Orkney-Caithness subsea cable link. Phase 1 of this is likely to come ashore around the Forss/ Dounreay area, and SSE is currently seeking comments on […]
Energy: Today’s (Friday’s) Press & Journal carries coverage of an agreement signed between North Highland College and onshore windfarm developer Whirlwind Renewables. The firm is applying for an second phase of the Wathegar windfarm just outside Wick, and if successful the deal would see between £30,000-£50,000 per year over a potential 30 year period used […]
Energy: Following a meeting with representatives of Scottish Power Renewables this week (see below for details) it was agreed that I would bring together a mini “task force” to help SPR address key issues and to raise awareness of local capabilities in key areas (skills, infrastructure, etc). This is a significant collective step forward as […]
Energy: Scottish Government Energy Minister Fergus Ewing MSP has initiated a Government Taskforce to help develop offshore renewables (offshore wind, wave and tidal). The Taskforce’s first meeting was last Friday, and it aims to focus on ensuring developers provide good applications, and also on ensuring that the licensing/ consenting process deals with development applications swiftly. […]
Energy: Following last week’s announcement of a consultation on revised ROC bandings for renewable energy sources, further positive news for the wave and tidal industry in the form of a Scottish Government announcement that £18M is to be made available to “improve capability and infrastructure, as well as helping fund technology solutions and the roll […]
Energy Scottish Government announced today (Friday) a consultation on the ROC bands applying under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) mechanism. ROC’s are seen by the renewables industry as an important support mechanism in the key early stages of developing renewables technologies. The key relevant highlight for our area is the proposal to increase the level of […]
Energy Another potential inward investor visited the area this week to look at sites relating to offshore renewables, further highlighting the interest being shown in our assets and infrastructure.Enabling Activities: Transport Scotland has submitted a contract notice to the Official Journal of the European Union requesting operators to come forward to undertake the Northern Isles […]
Enabling Activities: I met this week with Susan Johnston of JobCentre Plus, to discuss their important role in supporting the area’s economy. I also introduced her to colleagues form Highland Council’s Employability service in the area. Speaking at a meeting of the Make The Right Connections project board this week, I was keen to highlight […]
Energy: Together with Simon Coles in his role as Inward Investment manager on secondment to HIE I met with two representatives from a major UK company seeking to develop its involvement in the renewables industry. We were able to show them several key local facilities, and introduce them to several local companies.Tourism: A small Leadership […]
Energy: In common with several other businesses and agencies I had a meeting this week with representatives of a company in the marine renewables sector who are thinking of setting up a base in Caithness. It was further confirmation of the growing interest from companies in locating their services close to the Pentland and Moray […]