Content about Scotland

March 23, 2012

Scotland announces £103 million renewables fund

Scotland’s energy minister Fergus Ewing has announced a new £103 million investment fund designed to drive the growth of renewable energy in Scotland.

The Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF) will initially focus on supporting communities and rural businesses to develop their own local renewable projects. It will also support district heating, and wave and tidal developers with the development and deployment of array projects.

February 27, 2012

Wood Group PSN wins £250 million North Sea contract

Premier Oil has awarded a contract to Wood Group PSN for the delivery of integrated operations and maintenance support services to the Balmoral floating production vessel (FPV).

The contract, estimated to be worth around £250 million, will see Wood Group PSN provide managed onshore and offshore operations and maintenance services, including the management of selected procurement and logistics support.

February 17, 2012

£1 billion contract for subsea power link

National Grid and ScottishPower Transmission have awarded a contract for construction of the first ever subsea electricity link between Scotland and England & Wales.

The £1 billion contract has been awarded to Germany’s Siemens and Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian.

The major grid upgrade will increase the capacity of electricity flowing between England and Scotland by more than 2,000 megawatts, allowing new renewable energy projects to be developed in Scotland that could power three million homes.

February 15, 2012

Scottish wave power project approved

The Scottish government has announced that Scotland’s first near shore commercial wave power array has been approved by energy minister Fergus Ewing.

Two new Oyster wave energy converters are to be added to an existing device at the European Marine Energy Centre at Billia Croo, Orkney, to allow operators Aquamarine Power to test the devices as an array.

Each machine has a capacity of 800 KW, bringing the total capacity of the array to 2.4MW.

February 3, 2012

Subsea 7 wins BP contract

UK-based Subsea 7 has been awarded a $100 million contract by BP Exploration for work on the Clair Ridge Project, West of Shetland.

The Clair Ridge development will comprise two new bridge-linked platforms to be sited to the north-east of Clair Phase 1.

The contract scope includes the project management, engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of a six kilometre, 22 inch oil export pipeline and a 14 kilometre, 6 inch gas export pipeline connected to the new production facilities and existing Clair Phase 1 export systems.

January 24, 2012

Ofgem fast-tracks Scottish energy upgrade

The energy regulator Ofgem has agreed to fast-track plans by ScottishPower that will see £2.6 billion invested into power upgrades between 2013 and 2021.

The plans will see the creation of up to 1,500 new jobs in Scotland.

ScottishPower’s detailed proposals outline investment priorities up to 2021 that will enable upgrades to the electricity network in central and southern Scotland. The plans are also designed to help achieve European carbon reduction targets.

October 26, 2011

Green light for Loch Lomond gold mine

Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority has approved plans for a 10-year underground gold mine facility in Loch Lomond National Park, Scotland.

Cononish gold mine near Tyndrum is currently the only economic gold reserve in Scotland. The development covers 39 hectares and will include the underground mine, large processing/storage building and tailings management facility.

January 31, 2011

Final bids submitted for Firth of Forth bridge

Final bids have been submitted for the £1 billion contract to build a new crossing over the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

Forthspan and Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC), together representing eight bridge building and civil engineering firms,are competing for the principal contract to build the new bridge and connecting roads on the Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC) project.

The submission of the bids marks the last major step in the process before the contract is awarded in April, with work expected to start soon after the deal is signed.

January 14, 2011

Amazon to create Scottish jobs

Online retail giant Amazon is to create 950 new jobs across two sites in Scotland, it has been announced.

The majority of the posts—750—will be created at a newly-built plant distribution centre in Dunfermline, Fife, with another 200 jobs being added at the firm's warehouse in Gourock, Inverclyde. At times of peak demand, up to 1,500 temporary jobs could also be created at the warehouse.

November 9, 2010

Carr’s Milling reports profits rise

Carr’s Milling, the UK-based animal feed and agricultural machinery group, has reported a strong growth in profits during the year ending August 2010.

The Carlisle-based company, which owns fertiliser manufacturing and fuel operations, saw pre-tax profits rise 27.4 per cent to £9 million.

June 18, 2010

Santander in the running for RBS branches

Spain’s Santander is set to acquire 318 high street branches from the UK’s Royal Bank of Scotland as the only bidder left in a sale process that ends today.

The Spanish bank, which is the largest in Europe, made an indicative offer of about £2 billion in April to buy the branches the European Union is forcing RBS to sell, following its government bailout during the credit crunch.

The bid is for 318 RBS branches, part of the former William & Glyn network, plus six NatWest branches in Scotland.

November 1, 2009

Amrut Distilleries

That’s the spirit
Bangalore-based Amrut Distilleries produces one of the finest single malt whiskies in the world, and has ambitious plans for expansion, as Rakshit Jagdale explains to Gay Sutton.
When you think of single malt whisky you tend to think of the highlands of Scotland: rugged heather covered mountains, peat bogs and incredibly fresh spring water that imparts its own unique quality. You don’t tend to think of the heat, colour and exuberance of India. Yet connoisseurs around the world are beginning to realise how wrong that impression is. Amrut single malt whiskies have been making an appearance in specialist shops all across the European Union, are now breaking into the markets of South Africa and Australia and are gaining a reputation for quality.