PLANS have been launched to construct a renewable energy park in the north east of Scotland with capacity to power tens of thousands of homes.
Some 1,500 jobs could be created to build the energy park while a further 250 permanent jobs will be created in the operation. The developer, Edinburgh-based Holistic Energy, hopes to start building in 2023 and be operational by 2026.
The facility has been earmarked to be built on a purchased 40-hectare site close to the existing Peterhead Power Station in Aberdeenshire. It has attracted overseas interest from an investment group – North China Power Engineering (NCPE) – which has pledged £800 million for the build-out phase.
Holistic Energy has completed a feasibility and evaluation study of what will be the UK’s first Holistic Low Carbon Energy Facility.
Proposals include a mixed fuel gasification and biomass plant, a green biodiesel production facility and an aerobic digestion (AD) plant. These will be housed alongside solar PV, wind energy, and supported by a green hydrogen production facility and battery storage facilities.
In phase two, Holistic Energy will explore the deep geothermal potential of the site.
Holistic Energy will work with several partners in the design, civil engineering and construction phases, including Wood Group, XL Group, Will Rudd Davidson and Bell Ingram Design.
Dr Gen Cannibal, director of Holistic Energy, said, “The facility will have three primary purposes – to produce a local renewable power station in Peterhead which can approach the most commonly identified barriers to renewable uptake, to form a major R&D facility for new technologies that have reached the marketable stage but have not, as of yet, attained large scale market application in the UK and thirdly, to provide a significant replacement to gas-powered plants in satisfying Scottish electricity demands and, hence, decarbonising the Scottish economy.
“The ambitions for the development of the renewable energy village are to showcase Scotland and the UK as a world leader in energy transition projects and enhance our delivery timeline to low or zero carbon energy sources.”
Support for the proposed renewable energy village has come from Aberdeenshire Council Economic Development Service, and Opportunity North East, a private sector catalyst driving change in north east Scotland’s economy.
