key
sectors
Wind
- Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm (Wick) has capacity to power 450,000 homes
- Pentland (Thurso) set to be the largest floating offshore wind farm in the world
- West of Orkney, Stromar and Ayre developments going through consent
- Offshore wind set to add 5GW capacity
- Highland contributes 46% of Scotland’s power from onshore wind
- North Highland generates 12.5 times the electricity it consumes
Wave & Tidal
- MeyGen is the world’s largest planned tidal stream array
- Located in the Pentland Firth – ‘the Saudi Arabia of tidal power’
- Battery storage system now consented
- Nearby Scrabster Port ideally positioned gateway to the north
- Prototype wave technology tested in North Sea
- Supported by marine research at UHI North West and Hebrides
Nuclear
- NRS Dounreay (Thurso) one of only two Cat 1 sites managed by NDA
- Globally-leading decommissioning expertise
- Annual budget of £200m with £125m flowing through supply chain
- Major local employer along with
NRTE Vulcan - Significant socio-economic programme funding local apprenticeships, skills and community enterprise
Space
- Space port with planning consent located at A’Mhoine, Sutherland
- Orbex creating world’s first low carbon space port
- Ideally positioned for small vertical launches to polar orbit
- Catalyst for high value jobs and inward investment
- Opportunity to develop cluster in data storage and analysis
Conservation science
- Flow Country now designated UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Carbon sink retaining more carbon than all the UK’s forests combined
- Restoration and conservation efforts set to attract up to 240 specialist jobs
- Target £1.5bn ethical investment
- Environmental Research Institute anchoring world-class research in conservation science
Digital and battery
- Battery Energy Storage System consented at MeyGen
- Potential private wire energy feed from local renewable developments
- Forse Energy Park ideally placed for data centre development
- SSEN upgrade adds resilience to manage future demand.
- Grid- and fibre-ready land for rapid digital deployment
expert supply chain
The North Highlands offers a highly skilled and diverse supply chain. Built on decades of delivery in safety-critical, highly regulated environments, local companies across Caithness and Sutherland support some of the UK’s most complex industrial programmes – from nuclear decommissioning at Dounreay
to offshore.
Our businesses bring proven capability in engineering, fabrication, electrical and instrumentation services, environmental management and logistics. These skills are already deployed across offshore wind projects such as Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm.
With established supply chains, a highly skilled workforce and strong collaboration between industry, education and the public sector, the North Highlands is ready to support new investment – and deliver Scotland’s Just Transition in action.
Interested?
Get In Touch
Partners
Address
The Dome
UHI NWH Campus
Ormlie Road, Thurso
Caithness, KW14 7EE
Phone
01463 383 286