Tag: Scotland

The UK government will support a multi-million pound Aberdeen underwater engineering hub, aiming to assist the oil industry switch into green energy. According to Prime Minister, Theresa May, the initiative aspires to create new jobs and help businesses thrive. The UK wants to help Scotland become a key destination for subsea engineering, an industry that in the UK supports 45,000 jobs and 1,000 companies.

The Scottish Government relaunched the 'Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund' aiming to help commercial deployment of tidal projects. The £10 million fundgoals to enhance and boost the commercial deployment of tidal energy in Scottish waters through driving innovation and reduction in the cost of electricity generated. The Saltire Prize challenge was firstly launched in 2008 to reward wave and tidal energy breakthroughs.

Scotland and New Jersey signed a joint agreement focusing on offshore wind projects, aiming to tackle climate change. They both have set ambitious climate and clean energy targets, recognising the importance of decarbonising the energy sector and in particular the role of offshore wind. The new role focuses on building connections for Scotland in the renewables sector in North America, identifying commercial opportunities in the supply chain and supporting Scottish companies to compete and win business in this emerging market.

Based on IMO's strict sulphur regulations, the shipping industry is looking for ways to take its shipping in a greener and more sustainable path by innovating in the technological fields. As IMO has demanded, the shipping industry's sulphur emissions should not exceed the 0.50% m/m of sulphur, by 2020 unless the ships are equipped with scrubbers or get along with other options available. 

The new research forum 'Blue Carbon Forum', powered by the Scottish Government in partnership with Scottish universities will measure the ability of Scotland’s marine environment to store carbon dioxide and mitigate against the effects of climate change. It aims to identify and map blue carbon resource in Scottish waters over 2018-19.

A new type of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) has been successfully tested off the Orkney Isles in northern Scotland during a marine robot demonstration coordinated by the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC).  The trial seeks to help the Royal Navy better understand how to deploy and operate marine autonomous systems.

Crown Estate Scotland signed its first ever lease option for carbon dioxide storage. The project will be based at the St Fergus Gas Terminal on the Aberdeenshire coast and aims to leverage oil and gas assets to deliver large scale, cost-effective CO2 transport and storage infrastructure in the Central North Sea.

Travel Leaders Group conducted a survey among 1,000 North American travel advisors, revealing that Scotland and the Netherlands moved up among the top five upcoming European destinations. As for the international cruise category, the Caribbean remained at the top spot.

A storm called Ali is currently hitting Scotland. The storm detached the cruise ship 'Nautica' from its moorings in Greenock, Scotland. The vessel drifted away from the dock on September 19. 'Nautica' experienced strong winds and got detached from the dock. Now all guests, about 500, are stuck at sea but safe.

Oil and gas sales value in Scotland has risen by 18.2% between 2016-17 and 2017-18, according to figures by the Scottish government. The figures also show that despite the slight decrease of 1.7% in the latest year, production of oil and gas remains 23.1% higher than the level recorded in 2014-15.