Plans for a major new wind farm in the Moray Firth were dented yesterday by the government’s decision to overlook a funding application for the project.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) dished out contracts worth more than £315million to 27 renewable electricity projects, 11 of which are in Scotland, in its first ever green power auction.
The so-called Contracts for Difference guarantee energy producers a ‘strike price’ for every megawatt per hour (MWh) they supply to the grid over a 15-year period.
Moray Offshore Renewables Limited (MORL), which plans to build up to 62 turbines of 6MW to 8MW capacity on each of three sites, had been tipped to secure a deal, but missed out.
MORL managing director Dan Finch, said: “We will continue developing MORL as an innovative, highly competitive project in anticipation of early announcement of adequate Government support in future funding rounds.”
The next round of auctions is due to take place in autumn 2015, according to industry body RenewableUK.
The proposed Neart na Gaoithe wind farm in the Firth of Forth did manage to secure funding along with 10 Scottish onshore wind farms.
Neart na Gaoithe, which is Gaelic for ‘strength of the wind’, will get £119.89 per MWh under the terms of its deal.
UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “These projects could power 1.4million homes, create thousands of green jobs and give a massive boost to home-grown energy while reducing our reliance on volatile foreign markets.
“The auction has driven down prices and secured the best possible deal for this new clean, green energy.”
Scottish Renewables chief executive Niall Stuart hailed the contract awards but said the country has ambitions far beyond the current allocation round.
He said another 3GW of projects with planning permission in Scotland will be looking to secure future deals.
But the prevailing mood of joviality was not shared by a number of environmentalists and politicians who were left fuming by the decision to snub MORL.
Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said the “very disappointing” outcome made a mockery of the coalition’s claim that it is the “greenest government ever.”
“Granting a contract to only one Scottish offshore wind farm, and only one other in the rest of the UK, shows how little interest the current UK government has in cleaning up our energy supply,” he said.
MSP Rob Gibson, said: “The Scottish government rightly has ambitious targets to harness Scotland’s enormous renewable energy resources and MORL has a key part to play in that.
“The Westminster government’s failure today to award MORL a contract to enable it to proceed is a bitter blow to the Highlands economy and shows once again how bereft of ambition the LibDem and Tory government at Westminster is.”