SSE Energy Solutions has signed a deal to provide renewable energy for the proposed Hunterston Port and Resource Campus (Hunterston PARC).
It comes as Peel Ports Group, the UK’s second largest port operator, is developing a significant energy and marine campus on 300 acres of land within the huge Clydeport facility in Ayrshire.
As part of the development’s plans, SSE will provide the infrastructure and renewable energy to power the operations of the park.
READ MORE: Green energy deal could create hundreds of North Ayrshire jobs
The port operator plans to create a business park which will bring together leading industry operators, academics and innovators “to deliver technological advances in areas such as power generation and aquaculture”.
Nathan Sanders, managing director at SSE Energy Solutions, said: "We believe in working closely with communities and local businesses to tackle climate change and this development will bring jobs and investment to the West of Scotland, as well as contributing to the UK’s net zero ambitions."
It is claimed the Hunterston site is seen as an attractive proposition for development as it features a deep-water port, has on-site rail connectivity and it is already connected to the national grid.
READ MORE: Hunterston PARC in windfarm link with Mainstream
The site was also earlier this year granted national development status, "creating opportunities for a slew of new renewable energy developments to come onstream".
The port group previously announced a long-term deal with sub-sea cabling company XLCC for a major facility at Hunterston PARC to include two factories, which could further generate 900 jobs. It gained final planning approval this year.
Peel Ports Group is committed to becoming net-zero across all its sites by 2040, putting it five years ahead of the Scottish government's national decarbonisation targets.
READ MORE: New Clydeport director unveils jobs plan
Lewis McIntyre, managing director of Port Services at Peel Ports Group, said: "We are extremely proud to welcome a partner as significant and well-respected as SSE to Hunterston PARC.
"This important agreement will support a wide range of other developments across our facility in meeting their energy needs.
"One of the key, long-term aims of Peel Ports Group has been to repurpose this nationally important port for the blue and green economies, and we look forward to working with SSE on this partnership in the coming years."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel