Scottish Energy Scene http://scottishpower.posterous.com News and Views on Tartan Power posterous.com Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:53:00 -0700 Scottish and Southern buys stake in Fab Burntisland! http://scottishpower.posterous.com/scottish-and-southern-buys-stake-in-fab-burnt http://scottishpower.posterous.com/scottish-and-southern-buys-stake-in-fab-burnt

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Firstly, let me apologise for not updating the blog for a while, the business of life took over for a little while, anyway - im back now and not a moment too soon as there are several good stories in the Scottish energy scene, not least the news from a couple of days ago that SSE has bought a 15% stake in Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab). This is an interesting deal for a couple of reasons, firstly it secures the future for a Scottish company manufacturing in the energy sector: As BiFab managing director John Robertson told The Herald:

“The big advantage for the 400 to 500 people at Methil will be long-term certainty of employment because we can see 10 to 12 years ahead. That is very unusual in the fabrication industry.”

The company will now be able to open a new factory and more than double its production of jacket substructures for wind turbines. SSE is committed to buying at least 50 jackets every year from 2014.

Secondly it signals the intentions of SSE to further expand its offshore wind energy capabilities, Ian Marchant the SSE Chief Exec had this to say on the deal:

“It is essential that SSE is able to establish a reliable supply chain, particularly for those elements where manufacturing bottlenecks have already been identified as a significant risk. This investment in BiFab secures a reliable supply of offshore structures for our SSE Renewables business.”

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