Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has warned the UK Government that investment uncertainty created by electricity market reform is risking thousands of offshore wind jobs. Ahead of a debate on the Energy, Enterprise and Tourism Committee’s report on the achievability of the Scottish Government’s renewable energy targets, Mr Ewing warned the UK coalition ministers’ mixed messages on energy policy and continuing uncertainty around Electricity Market Reform, including the lack of a decarbonisation target until at least 2016, is risking jobs, investment and economic growth The proposals outlined in the Energy Bill published in November 2012 lack measures to give investors confidence beyond 2020, putting the UK at a disadvantage compared to countries like Germany which has already set a clear target of 26GW from offshore wind by 2030.
Local arrangements for police and fire and rescue are making excellent progress ahead of new single services going live on April 1, an event to share good practice heard today. Almost 200 people from across Scotland attended the Local Scrutiny and Engagement event in Edinburgh.
Energy: Good news this week from Ignis Biomass Ltd, the owners and operators of the Combined Heat & Power Plant in Wick. The Company has invested an initial £2.5M in a new biomass boiler, which has now been installed and is operating.
Report by Bill Mowat The vessel was there for Mojo Maritime Ltd of Falmouth, Cornwall and was in port to deploy three 'Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler' (ADCP) devices on the seabed of the Pentland Firth's Inner Sound. This was undertaken for MeyGen Ltd, the company that holds the Crown Estate's seabed licence for that part of the Firth as a site for development as 'the world's first commercial tidal stream electricity power station'.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (February, 21st) sold 28 registered Cheviot females at its Harbro sponsored show and sale, and 89 in lamb Cheviots for the dispersal of the Amat flock on behalf of W R Cameron. The judge Mr W.
Staff, parents and pupils in the Highlands are being reassured about the quality and safe consumption of the fresh meat and processed food used in school meals in the Highlands. Council Catering and Cleaning Manager Norma Murray has written to the head teachers of the Council's 177 primary schools, 29 secondary schools and three special schools in response to the national debate and general concerns surrounding the presence of horsemeat in some UK food products.
New Renewables Energy Show For Agriculture To Be Held At Thainstone Centre A renewables energy show for Scottish farming is to be held at the Thainstone Centre, Inverurie, in April. AgriEnergy 2013 will be a two-day event aimed at showcasing and discussing the latest developments in wind, solar, biomass, hydro and other forms of sustainable energy.
Highland Councillor Robert Coghill, who represents Landward Caithness, has given notice of his intention to resign, with effect from Thursday 28 February. Councillor Coghill, who helps run a farm at Halkirk, is standing down on medical advice.
Six Highland community groups have been selected to progress bids for funding from The Highland Council’s new Community Challenge Fund, which will provide £1 million for community projects exploring new ways of delivering services at a local level. The groups are Nairn Cricket Club, Kinlochleven Community Trust, Lochalsh Sports Association, Kyle and Lochalsh Community Trust, Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston Community Company and Lochaber Sports Association.
Driving home the safer roads educational message and building on the success of their previous campaigns, NOSDAT – North Of Scotland Driver Awareness Team, set up by local MSP David Stewart, will launch their next campaign ‘ Switch onto Safer Roads’ on Monday 25 February 2013. Previously the Group set up and ran the ‘Sensible Driving – Always Arriving’ Deadly Mates campaign, after the tragic deaths of two local Inverness teenagers in a road collision in the city.
Ignis Biomass Ltd has installed and is now operating a new biomass boiler to provide heat for the district heating scheme in Wick. The new 3.5 megawatt steam boiler is part of an initial £2.5m investment in the Wick district heating scheme, following its purchase by Ignis in June 2012.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (February 20th) sold 497 store cattle, 7 adult head of breeding cattle and 56 OTM cattle. Bullocks (265) averaged 224.8p and sold to 266.0p per kg for a 250kg Limousin cross from 129 Roadside, Kinlochbervie and £1,410 gross for a 670kg Aberdeen Angus cross from The Laurels, Balblair.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (February, 19th) sold 94 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (44) averaged 208.0p (-0.8p) and sold to 228p per kg and £1,654.80 gross.
A Caithness based processor and supplier of locally sourced shellfish which recently expanded its business is celebrating 20 years of success based at Scrabster harbour. JPL Shellfish has been serving customers across the UK since it was established in 1992, and an increase in requests to export live shellfish to new international markets has resulted in an expansion of its premises.
At today’s Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee members awarded Pulteneytown People’s project £90,506 from the Deprived Area Fund which will be used to provide services to local people through the Advice Centre. This will be used to support the work of the one-stop shop to provide local people help and advice with benefits, staying on at school, re-training, housing issues and applying for jobs.
Scotland’s regional airport operator got off to a strong start to 2013, with a significant rise in passenger numbers in January. Latest figures from airport group HIAL show that its 11 airports handled 84,981 passengers last month, an increase of 9.1% on January 2012.
Work to develop infrastructure for Inverness Campus at Beechwood, Inverness, is now well underway, with completion of this phase of the project due early summer this year. This means development of Inverness College UHI's new building will soon commence and plots on Inverness Campus will become available for other organisations and businesses.
RWE npower renewables (RWE NRL) is encouraging local people in Caithness to take part in the Caithness Conversation, a discussion about how the community funds linked to wind farms can best be used to support the area. RWE NRL, one of the UK's leading renewable energy developers, invests more than £75,000 per annum in Caithness through community funds associated with its wind farms.
Inverness Campus contractor Morgan Sindall is working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to ensure all final arrangements are in place before installing a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over the A9 in the coming weeks. The bridge, which weighs 290 tonnes, is being pieced together on HIE’s Inverness Campus site, at Beechwood, East Inverness.
People in Caithness and Sutherland looking for new career opportunities in business services are being encouraged to attend an event in Thurso this Saturday (23 Feb). Experts from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will be amongst exhibitors at the Caithness ‘Jobs and How to Get Them’ fair at the ETEC Building, North Highland College.
