Scottish Infrastructure

[Caledonian1]

3 hours ago, Detournement said:

Wee Paddy the rat hasn't tweeted about the auction so presumably he knows it's a crock of shit which will only benefit She'll, BP, Total etc at the expense of ordinary Scottish people. 

You dont seem to grasp that this is a huge opportunity for the Scottish economy and thus the Scottish people. 

This will result in a large number of fabrication / manufacturing jobs in places like Kishorn, Nigg, Ardersier.....supply chain jobs through tower manufacture, dynamic cable manufacture, moorings systems, anchors, chains.....office jobs in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.  One day you might realise just how significant ScotWind is to the scottish economy

[Caledonian1]

2 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Thatcher sold off our natural resources dirt cheap and now Sturgeon has done the same.

selling the wind is she?  Ah that finite resouce.......better make use of it whilst it is still around eh.....

Edited January 17, 2022 by Caledonian1

[Wee Bully]

9 minutes ago, Caledonian1 said:

selling the wind is she?  Ah that finite resouce.......better make use of it whilst it is still around eh.....

When it’s gone, it’s gone. We can’t get the wind back you know.

[Detournement]

11 minutes ago, Caledonian1 said:

You dont seem to grasp that this is a huge opportunity for the Scottish economy and thus the Scottish people. 

This will result in a large number of fabrication / manufacturing jobs in places like Kishorn, Nigg, Ardersier.....supply chain jobs through tower manufacture, dynamic cable manufacture, moorings systems, anchors, chains.....office jobs in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.  One day you might realise just how significant ScotWind is to the scottish economy

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n14/james-meek/who-holds-the-welding-rod 

None of that will happen. 

 

 

[Detournement]

https://robinmcalpine.org/scotland-gives-away-its-energy-future/

McAlpine lays it out well.

The price per Gigawatt is only 1/3rd of what was predicted prior to the auction. We have all been robbed today. 

[Caledonian1]

3 minutes ago, Detournement said:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n14/james-meek/who-holds-the-welding-rod 

None of that will happen. 

 

 

Such negativity.

CS Wind in Campbeltown unfortunately didnt survive as the industry over-took them, the scale of offshore wind turbines became simply too large for their fabrication facilities.....we have gone from 2MW turbines to 14MW  in only a few short years. 

Rolling plant is being installed at Nigg for tower manufacture, plans are in place for  manufacture of concrete floating wind sub-structures at Kishorn.  The old Bi-Fab yard is now in the hands of Harland and Wolff and winning orders, Ardersier will open again , announcements on dynamic cable manufacturing plants are anticipated in the next few months....I could go on.  Honestly forget the mistakes of the past and have more belief in the future - all the winning bidders have supply chain development plans in place - dont adhere to them and they will not be winning future rounds.

[Caledonian1]

11 hours ago, Detournement said:

https://robinmcalpine.org/scotland-gives-away-its-energy-future/

McAlpine lays it out well.

The price per Gigawatt is only 1/3rd of what was predicted prior to the auction. We have all been robbed today. 

wow thats a really ignorant article (no surprise by McAlpine)He clearly knows nothing about offshore wind and has completely mis-understood how the ScotWind auction works.  Might save himself some embarrassment by keeping it on his own website (cant imagine who would be reading that)

Edited January 18, 2022 by Caledonian1

[DiegoDiego]

wow thats a really ignorant article

But it fits with Detournement's rampant confirmation bias and that's what really matters.

[RiG]

11 hours ago, Caledonian1 said:

I will be absolutely stunned if any of these projects fails to get off the ground.

Why your scepticism?

Because of the environmental issues that the STW and R3 projects on the east coast faced when they were determined namely seabird collision and issues relating to fishing. They are not insurmountable but they will be very difficult to overcome. And on the west coast there are visual issues that plagued some of the original STW projects that won't have gone away.

I'm not saying that none of these projects won't get built just that a lot of them will likely not get through because of their own significant effects on the environment and / or their cumulative effects with other projects on specific receptors.

[Caledonian1]

27 minutes ago, RiG said:

Because of the environmental issues that the STW and R3 projects on the east coast faced when they were determined namely seabird collision and issues relating to fishing. They are not insurmountable but they will be very difficult to overcome. And on the west coast there are visual issues that plagued some of the original STW projects that won't have gone away.

I'm not saying that none of these projects won't get built just that a lot of them will likely not get through because of their own significant effects on the environment and / or their cumulative effects with other projects on specific receptors.

I have yet to see any evidence of seabird collision (on any significant scale) My power at home has been cut twice in the past six weeks due to bird strikes on power cables near my house (onshore...) Swan once and goose another time - this happens onshore but no one suggests we dont have power cables. There have been many studies into interaction with bird migratory patterns and that will be the case once again for all these licences (2 years data)

Environmental impact is negligible.  The majority of these licences are in deeper water and will be developed as floating wind farms (anchored to the seabed - they are in fact portable by their nature and when decommissioned they will be gone.  Indeed, there are advantages to fishing in that these wind farms which will still be a tiny part of the north sea offer a safe refuge for fish  - allowing stocks to replenish.  There is a lot of discussion with SAMS and fishing bodies pre-development - this is very recent - Floating Offshore Wind and Fishing Interaction Roadmap – ORE (catapult.org.uk)

Detournament brought up an environmental issue last night that really has me thinking though.  He believes that Scotland has sold off a resource for peanuts here....if i am being honest I had never really seen wind as a finite resource so its going to be an interesting day at work today alerting my colleagues to this issue (might be all gone by the time I retire.......)

[invergowrie arab]

Good of Detournment to point us in the direction of the NS thread. I learned a huge amount about a subject I know next to nothing about. 

Folk can make their own mind up who the knowledgeable contributors are there. 

[RiG]

1 hour ago, Caledonian1 said:

I have yet to see any evidence of seabird collision (on any significant scale) My power at home has been cut twice in the past six weeks due to bird strikes on power cables near my house (onshore...) Swan once and goose another time - this happens onshore but no one suggests we dont have power cables. There have been many studies into interaction with bird migratory patterns and that will be the case once again for all these licences (2 years data)

You can't compare static power lines with multiple offshore wind turbines each with a sweep area of around 20,000 m². They present very different collision risks. Recent determinations of projects in the Forth and Tay region saw environmental organisations object and maintain objections throughout the licensing process. Statutory advisors did not agree with the conclusions of Appropriate Assessments undertaken by the regulator that developments would not have an AESI on protected sites. Admittedly the 2018 Carbon trust report on collision risk for 5 priority seabird species is encouraging but this will not be the walk in the park you seem to think it is. There are concerns about impacts on seabirds from the current crop of developments let alone the multiple additional projects that are proposed. It will be a very difficult hurdle to clear.

1 hour ago, Caledonian1 said:

Environmental impact is negligible.  The majority of these licences are in deeper water and will be developed as floating wind farms (anchored to the seabed - they are in fact portable by their nature and when decommissioned they will be gone.  Indeed, there are advantages to fishing in that these wind farms which will still be a tiny part of the north sea offer a safe refuge for fish  - allowing stocks to replenish.  There is a lot of discussion with SAMS and fishing bodies pre-development - this is very recent - Floating Offshore Wind and Fishing Interaction Roadmap – ORE (catapult.org.uk)

Questionable given some of the issues the original STW sites faced. These haven't gone away and will still be issues for this next tranche of developments.

Whilst the foundation type will be different and there will be less of an impact from gravity bases, suction buckets etc. compared to monopiles there will still be issues to overcome both environmental and socio economic.

You are correct in saying that the turbine foundations might act as a FAD however the presence of the turbines and their interconnecting infrastructure are often excluded from being accessed by fisherman for safety reasons so they still need to deal with the loss of fishing grounds. It's not just about the environmental aspects there is the socio economic issues to consider as well.

A lot of the sites will be built out but their cumulative effect will, I feel, prevent every single one of them being built. I hope these sites get developed but I think there will be a lot of opposition to some of the sites closer to land on the west coast and there will be concerns for specific environmental receptors for the ones on the east coast especially.

Edited January 18, 2022 by RiG

[Melanius Mullarkey]

ShEs SoLd THu WiNd.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

Robin McAlpine 

[welshbairn]

[RiG]

2 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Trump losing his legal challenges on the EOWDC three times (as well as other challenges he tried to get involved in) still makes me smile

Edited January 18, 2022 by RiG

[LongTimeLurker]

On 17/01/2022 at 19:43, BFTD said:

Faeroese sheep are remarkably reasonable compared to their Scottish cousins. Where's the leader casually chewing while staring down the driver with a look that bristles with square go energy?

Apparently they don't form flocks as much due to the absence of predators.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_sheep

[strichener]

On 17/01/2022 at 21:05, Caledonian1 said:

Such negativity.

CS Wind in Campbeltown unfortunately didnt survive as the industry over-took them, the scale of offshore wind turbines became simply too large for their fabrication facilities.....we have gone from 2MW turbines to 14MW  in only a few short years. 

Rolling plant is being installed at Nigg for tower manufacture, plans are in place for  manufacture of concrete floating wind sub-structures at Kishorn.  The old Bi-Fab yard is now in the hands of Harland and Wolff and winning orders, Ardersier will open again , announcements on dynamic cable manufacturing plants are anticipated in the next few months....I could go on.  Honestly forget the mistakes of the past and have more belief in the future - all the winning bidders have supply chain development plans in place - dont adhere to them and they will not be winning future rounds.

CS Wind are an absolute c**t of an organisation.  Unfortunately the BPs etc will be looking to the EPC companies for the construction and they have strong relationships with CS Wind.

If the only punishment on these companies for not adhering to their supply chain agreements then I am afraid that is not going to offer the protections that you appear to believe.

[Caledonian1]

49 minutes ago, strichener said:

CS Wind are an absolute c**t of an organisation.  Unfortunately the BPs etc will be looking to the EPC companies for the construction and they have strong relationships with CS Wind.

If the only punishment on these companies for not adhering to their supply chain agreements then I am afraid that is not going to offer the protections that you appear to believe.

I would say BP have stronger relationships elsewhere and they have been engaging with the Scottish supply chain to a great degree recently.  Just had a meeting with CES and there will be ScotWind 2 3 etc this is not a one off and if a developer does not adhere to their SCDS then they have little chance of being successful in future licencing rounds.

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/summary-report-january-2022-stpr2/

Now we're talking. Lewis connectedby road all the way to Barra via causeways/bridges/tunnels would be pretty fantastic. Get it built!