Argyll Array offshore windfarm development cancelled
The Guardian reports, 13th December 2013: “Plans to establish a major new windfarm in the waters of the Inner Hebrides have been dropped by energy company ScottishPower Renewables. The company said the Argyll Array project was currently not financially viable in the short term.
It said hard rock at the site, off the coast of the island of Tiree, made it difficult to develop, while “challenging” wave conditions also impacted on the project. Another issue was the significant presence of basking sharks in the area.
The site has the potential to provide a capacity of between 500 megawatts and 1,800 megawatts of electricity, if developed. Jonathan Cole, the head of offshore wind at ScottishPower Renewables, said the area had “some of the best wind conditions” to be found offshore anywhere in the UK. But he added the technology was not yet sufficiently developed to allow the project to proceed.
RSPB Scotland head of planning and development Aedan Smith said: “Whilst Scotland has an impressive offshore wind potential the challenges in finding suitable sites with the least impacts on birds and other marine species and habitats are considerable. Offshore wind needs to be developed very carefully if we are to avoid significant harm to our fantastic natural environment.
“The Argyll Array was always going to be a very difficult offshore windfarm to develop. The site, immediately next to the island of Tiree, is internationally important for a range of marine wildlife. In particular, very large numbers of great northern diver and basking shark use the site and could have been affected by the development. Rare species such as corncrake, and Greenland white-fronted goose also make their home on the island each year and fly across the site on their annual migration.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Although this announcement by ScottishPower Renewables is disappointing, it does not detract from our ambition to fully capitalise on Scotland’s offshore wind energy potential, which we will continue to develop in a sustainable manner.”
Source: The Guardian, 13th December 2013. For the full text see http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/13/basking-sharks-scottish-offshore-windfarm
