Stevenson Hails Step Forward For Renewables industry At Peterhead

Banff & Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed the announcement that Scottish Enterprise has secured 30 acres of land in Peterhead to develop an industrial park for the growing offshore renewables industry. Scottish Enterprise intends to invest £2 million in a new access road and other infrastructure to help attract businesses to the site. Work on the site is expected to start later this year.

The development will form part of the Energetica corridor development between Peterhead and Aberdeen and comes on the same day as the Offshore Valuation Study was launched, making clear the scale of economic potential that lies in offshore renewables. The report estimated that Scotland’s practical offshore resource is 206 Gigawatts (GW) and that harnessing around a third of this total would result in net value electricity sales of £14 billion by 2050.

Commenting, Mr Stevenson said:

“This is a significant step forward and the development of this infrastructure will help to put Peterhead at the forefront of the growing offshore renewables industry.

“Peterhead was identified as a key location in the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan thanks to its location and quayside infrastructure, and this development helps to underline how important this industry has the potential to be for Banff & Buchan.

“The scale of the jobs and investment that can flow to Scotland from offshore renewables is incredible, as has been highlighted in the Offshore Valuation Study, so this is truly an exciting development for Peterhead and the surrounding area.”