EU energy co-ordinator welcomes Scotland’s work on North Sea renewables
Jun 17, 2010
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European Co-ordinator for offshore grid development Georg Adamowitsch has welcomed Scotland’s efforts in helping to build a North Sea electricity supergrid and contribute to a low carbon Europe.
Following his appearance at Holyrood magazine’s Delivering on 2020 conference yesterday, Adamowitsch met with First Minister Alex Salmond, Energy Minister Jim Mather, members of the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee and leading Scottish energy companies.
As a member of the Adamowitsch Working Group, the Scottish Government contributes to the development of the project to build an interconnecting grid across the North Sea to enable offshore wind projects to be ‘plugged in’.
Commenting on the meeting, Mather said: “Scotland has remarkable offshore energy potential as demonstrated by the recent Offshore Valuation Study. The development of a blueprint for a North Sea offshore grid – connecting national electricity grids and planned offshore wind projects for a low carbon, sustainable and secure energy future in Europe – is key to developing these resources.
“As part of the Adamowitsch Working Group, Scotland already plays its part in developing the North Sea grid connections. Progress at UK and EU level is being made in a number of important areas including transmission charging, financing low carbon and renewable infrastructure projects and working to increase the capacity of our onshore and offshore transmission networks. I am pleased that Mr Adamowitsch continues to work with us on that and we look forward to him playing a part in our Low Carbon Investment Conference in Edinburgh in September.
Adamowitsch added: “Europe needs better financial markets based on regulatory decisions to help the development of an offshore grid. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this as part of the Scottish Government Low Carbon Investment Project.”