Scottish Marine Energy Conference, Drumossie Hotel, 24th November 2010

http://www.scottishrenewables.com/

 

Scottish Renewables is a green energy organisation

The current target for renewable electricity is 80% in Scotland by 2020

Of the tidal resources in the UK Scotland has 75% of the UK resource in the Pentland Firth area, this equates to 25% of the European resource

There is currently a test site – the European Marine Energy Centre – at the north of Scotland (EMEC for short)

The Saltire prize will award £10 million to a team that achieve 100 gigawatt hours of power over a 2 year period from wave/tidal power

Jim McKie from Marine Scotland works with a team of 17 people in Aberdeen. He is working to make Marine Scotland the single point of contact regarding licensing and also for advice and assistance. They currently have 59 applications to deal with.

Their licensing manual is available online until the 1^st of December for comment – it’s written for wave and tidal but will be rewritten to reflect wind power later.

The National Grid also operates in the USA delivering gas. Their figures show most current energy still coming from gas and coal power but by 2020 coal will be significantly reduced with 1/3^rd of power coming from renewable energy.

The Crown Estate is a property owner and sees itself as not being a regulator but helping bring benefits to the UK. One part of it’s estate covers the marine area.

SSE gave some information on current and future contracts

Lead organisations it has dealt with so far include Aquatera, Leask Marine, Roving Eye Enterprises, Xodus Aurora.

From 2013 to 2020 they will be working on the construction phase of projects with contracts being awarded from £500,000 to £400 million. This will include feasibility studies etc.

From 2014 onwards they will be in the operational phase and contracts awarded will be from £500,000 to £10 million. They will require vessels, support services, port and harbour operators.

Achilles is a vendor database for everything except minor works – http://www.achilles.com/en/

Allan MacLeay spoke about SubSea7 and some of the hazards of working offshore. This included a timely safety moment reminding us that there are 5 wrecks a year in the Pentland Firth. Subsea 7 are the biggest diving contractor in the UK.

Here is the link to the Scottish Renewables Marine Conference

http://www.scottishrenewables.com/Default.aspx?DocumentID=144d2aa1-00bc-4ff3-91da-e6bca276da30

 

 

Perth Fusion 2 You Event - 30th September 2010

This was Fusions first event in Perth and the venue, the Bothy, was lovely with a private dining room downstairs that was ideal for our discussions. We discussed sales motivation, sales techniques and our conversation then ranged across many other areas including social media, Campbells soup and LinkedIN. There was a huge range of experience and knowledge around the table and we enjoyed making some great connections. The participants were signed into a South of the Cairngorms discussion group to continue their contact.

 

Inverness Fusion 2 You Event - 28th September 2010

A mix of businesses and personalities turned up to this event in Inverness at the Columba Hotel. We enjoyed some discussion around public tenders and procurement in the Highlands before dinner. We discussed web marketing, blogging and also referral strategies as well as the benefits of a procurement group. The participants were signed into an Inverness LinkedIn discussion group to continue their contact.    

 

Kirkwall Fusion 2 You Event - 15th September 2010

A lively group met at the Shore Restaurant in Kirkwall and discussed many issues. One of the attendees had a building business and was not sure how to fill up the odd days he was left with skilled workmen needed work. Many of the businesses attending said they had need of skilled workmen but only for odd days and Fusion eureka moment occurred. Let's hope we can look forward to many Orkney events. The participants were signed into an Orkney LinkedIN discussion group to continue their contact.

 

Lochaber Fusion 2 You Event - 22 April 2010

Engaging a very convivial discussion on Web marketing - what you never thought about, and/or did not know how to phrase the question or did not realise what you can do now, led by Chris Hawkes of Hotscot. -  www.hotscot.co.uk

Other discussions on alternative sources of funding, getting visitors to the Highlands by train and practical deployment of energy saving measures.