“Scotland is renowned for being an innovative nation,” says Kevin Ferguson, an operations and projects director working at the remote but busy Kishorn Port in the west Highlands.
“That is born out of a can-do attitude, plus persistence and resilience for overcoming challenges and an ability to work out best solutions to a problem,” he says. “I’d say Scottish people have that entrepreneurial mindset. When you look at all the innovations that have come out of Scotland, it’s amazing for such a small country.”
Historically dependent on coal plus offshore oil and gas, Scotland has pledged to reach net zero by 2045 – an ambitious target that is certainly requiring innovation. The Scottish government has committed to investing up to £500m over five years in offshore wind ports infrastructure, and in the manufacturing and fabrication facilities critical to growing the sector.
Scottish seas are already home to two of the world’s largest operational floating wind farms, and much of the infrastructure required has been homegrown. Now there’s more development in the pipeline after the UK government’s latest award of contracts to build offshore wind farms, which will see significant expansion in Scottish waters.
For decades, Kishorn Port has played a pivotal role in Scotland’s thriving energy industry – it was built in the 1970s to manufacture oil rig platforms. “Here we have very deep water close to the shore and minimal tidal current in a sheltered location,” says Ferguson, who works for Kishorn Port Limited and joint venture partner Ferguson Transport & Shipping, a family-owned logistics company based at the port.
The port’s location makes it an ideal site for constructing huge floating structures
Many ports around the British coastline do not have the capacity to house the size of structure needed for energy production. So Kishorn’s unusual landscape characteristics and the region’s industrial history and engineering skillsets combine to make this location ideally suited to the next phase of Scotland’s energy transition.
“Renewable floating structures [such as wind turbines] are huge, so Kishorn is really coming back on to the map,” says Ferguson. “Infrastructure developed five decades ago is proving indispensable again and we want to tap into all the expertise we have built up from the oil and gas sector over 50 years, not lose it.”
The dry dock, says Ferguson, is ideally suited for working on any type of floating structure, whether that’s structures in need of maintenance, repair and upgrades or decommissioning, or the construction of concrete substructures for offshore wind turbines.
As one of the third generation of Fergusons leading the business into the green industrial revolution, he sees Kishorn becoming a hub for the offshore renewable energy sector.
The business supports four different but closely linked sectors at the port: oil and gas, the decommissioning of marine assets such as rigs, aquaculture (mainly salmon farming) and emerging renewables. “This means that we are quite adaptable and resilient,” Ferguson says.
With the dry dock currently undergoing a big extension in line with the nation’s goals for renewable energy, Ferguson expects it to become home to many more large projects. The £42m expansion, supported by up to £24m of public sector investment, will see the length of the dry dock increase from 160 metres to 260 metres. “The extension opens up new avenues,” says Ferguson. “With a much bigger dock where we can do batch construction and build more at once, we can work towards becoming a serial manufacturing site. That’s much more valuable than facilitating one-off projects.
“We know the area, we know the challenges and the opportunities associated with working in this location, so we work closely with expert partners to make sure projects go as smoothly as possible.”
Investment from the Scottish government is being used to expand the dry dock
By building more floating foundations for huge offshore turbines, Scotland can bolster its position as a leading producer of wind power, which in absolute terms is the nation’s fastest growing renewable energy source.
“As the port develops into a serial production site, the manufacture of concrete substructure foundations for floating offshore wind will give continuity of work and predictability, and should be able to support up to 1,500 jobs once the port is fully developed.
“As Kishorn adapts, we can create new opportunities for the community and the economy to grow and become even more resilient.”
Find out more about opportunities to live and work, study, visit or do business in Scotland at Scotland.org
