SSE

Climate Change related activity since December 2009

In Scotland:

May 2010 – SSE announces plan for Scotland’s largest biogas plant

SSE has completed a £13.5 million deal signalling the start of construction of Scotland’s largest biogas plant at a former Landfill site at Barkip, North Ayrshire. The deal makes SSE the first energy company in the UK to commit to construction and operation of an anaerobic digestion biogas plant of this type and is expected to be operational by 2011.

April 2010 – £11 million investment into wind farm supply chain

In recognition of the need to have a developed supply chain to provide SSE with turbines and equipment for its wind farm investment programme, SSE purchased a 15% stake in Scottish based Burntisland Fabrications Ltd (BiFab) for £11million this month.  BiFab will supply SSE at least 50 jacket substructures annually to support SSE's offshore wind developments.

March 2010 – Energy Demand Reduction

In March, SSE completed the first community-wide energy reduction trials in the UK, featuring 'smart' meters. Alyth in Perthshire, one of the first pilot areas, managed to reduce energy consumption by 10% across the whole community.

March 2010 – Wave and Tidal Energy Development

SSE Renewables was awarded exclusive rights to develop 400 Mega Watts (MW) of wave and tidal energy in Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters and a further 400MW with its partners, Aquamarine and OpenHydro. 

January 2010 – SSE announces over £100m investment opportunity in ‘Sustainable Glasgow’ vision

SSE is aiming to help Glasgow achieve its ambitious goal of being one of Europe’s most sustainable cities by investing over £100m in the city over the next five years.

January 2010 – Round 3 of UK Offshore Wind Farm Development Programme

SSE and its partners have been awarded development partner status for the proposed 3.4GW offshore wind farm proposed for the Firth of Forth, 25km from the coast of Fife.

January 2010 – Beauly Denny Transmission line approval

In January Scottish Ministers announced that they have granted SSE consent, to upgrade the electricity transmission line between Beauly and Denny ensuring a further 1,200MW of renewable generation in the highlands can be connected to the grid.  

December 2009 – Commercial Deployment of Smart Grid Technology on Orkney

SSE and its partners have commercially deployed Smart Grid technology on SSE's power distribution network on Orkney, allowing the connection of increased amounts of new renewable energy generation.

December 2009 – SSE invest £250,000 in energy efficiency in the Western Isles

SSE is investing a further £250,000 in energy saving measures in the Western isles t in energy saving measures for households in the Western Isles. The partnership package will complement the Scottish Government’s Home Insulation Scheme for Harris and Lewis. 

Over 100MW of new wind energy generating capacity completed, with construction underway on another 400MW +

And in the rest of the UK:

September 2010 – SSE launch iplan, an evolutionary new energy product that helps you: PLAN your energy use to suit you; TRACK how much energy you’ve saved; and SAVE money by cutting your bills.

Offshore wind farms:

SSE has entered into an agreement with DONG Energy to acquire a 25.1% stake in the 367MW Walney offshore wind farm which is being built 14km west of the Isle of Walney in the Irish Sea.

SSE has also entered into an agreement with DONG Energy to form a 50:50 joint venture to take forward the development of three offshore wind farms, with a total capacity of just over 1,000MW, in the Dutch sector of the North Sea.

£6.3 million to trial Carbon Capture and Storage technology

SSE and its partners (Doosan Babcock and Vattenfall) were awarded £6.3 million by DECC, the Technology Strategy Board and Northern Way towards its 5MW carbon capture trial at Ferrybridge Power Station in West Yorkshire. The pilot plant is one of the largest in the world and aims to demonstrate the carbon capture element of the process over a two year period.

February 2010 – SSE Unveils UK-First Eco Homes Project for Slough

SSE will be the first utility in the UK to build and monito its own development of zero carbon homes to better understand what customers will need as the UK moves to reduce carbon emissions by almost 20% between 2008 and 2020.

Electric Vehicles

Deployed 40 electric Minis in the South/London area. Invested in 200 charging points in the South/London area.