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| Swedish windfarm a vision of the future says Macdonald |
Aberdeen Central MSP Lewis Macdonald is just back from visiting a Swedish offshore windfarm, and believes it offers a vision for Aberdeen`s energy future.
Lewis Macdonald was part of a delegation of MSPs taking part in the Scottish Parliament`s inquiry looking at future energy policy, which visited Lillgrund windfarm, about six miles offshore in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Denmark.
Lewis Macdonald, who is Labour`s Energy spokesman at Holyrood, also visited an energy-from-waste plant and a biomass-burning power station in the Copenhagen area, and earlier saw Europe`s first onshore carbon capture plant in operation in Germany.
Lewis Macdonald said today:
'Aberdeen has led the European offshore oil industry for the last forty years, and new techniques developed in the North Sea are now being used in oil provinces across the world.
'Now there is a very good chance to do the same in the offshore wind industry. Other countries like Sweden and Holland have already built large-scale offshore windfarms, but no-one has done so yet in the kind of challenging environment found in the northern North Sea.
'Visiting a large offshore windfarm like Lillgrund, in the relatively sheltered waters of the Baltic Sea, gives a real vision of what the North Sea`s next great industry could bring. The challenges are huge, and Aberdeen is best-placed to meet them.
'That is why there is an offer on the table from the European Commission to provide 40 million euros in funding for an Aberdeen Bay windfarm to act as a European test centre for offshore wind, just as the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney does for wave and tidal power. We must not miss this unique opportunity to put the city at the forefront of what will be the biggest new energy industry of the next decade.
'Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group has taken a lead, and I hope others will follow. If we want Aberdeen to be truly the energy capital of Europe in the next forty years, the whole city and region need to get behind Aberdeen Bay, and I will press Scottish Ministers for an early decision once an application goes in.'
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