Scottish fishermen warns Norwegian counterparts about wind farms
While Norway plans for its first floating sea wind farm in 2022, Scotland opened its first two years ago. However, commercial fishermen could face the loss of fishing areas.
Equinor opened the offshore wind farm, Hywind Scotland two years ago. It was the world’s first floating ocean wind farm and produces electricity for about 20,000 households. Scotland has plans for more developments, reports Klassekampen.
In Norway, offshore wind power has been seen as an industrial opportunity and a solution for avoiding conflict-filled developments on land.
However, the Scottish whitefish producer organization, SWFPA warns and believes there are no good examples of coexistence between commercial fishing and offshore wind farms.
“Our biggest fear is that there is no place to fish again, because the sea is filled by wind turbines and other industries like farming,” said Femke de Boer of the organization to the newspaper.
De Boers encouraged Norwegian fishermen to decide which fishing fields they absolutely want to keep and which ones are okay to let go.
Hywind Tampen, Norway’s first offshore wind farm, is scheduled to provide renewable power to the Snorre and Gullfaks oil fields from 2022.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy informed Klassekampen that the plans are under consideration and that they “undergo the normal case processing for development cases under the Petroleum Act”.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
