Hunterston Port and Resource Campus (Hunterston PARC) is ‘primed to secure a deal’ with sustainable energy sector company
XLCC that would result in 900 permanent jobs at a giant site in Ayrshire.
Owner
Peel Ports Clydeport has signed an option agreement with for a 70-acre facility to include two factories producing high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable for use in the sub-sea transmission of renewable energy.
The plan also includes the construction of research and development laboratories, offices, stores, electrical infrastructure and a high-tech cable delivery system, taking over almost a quarter of the land available for development at the former ore and coal terminal.
The development requires investment in the order of £370 million for buildings and plant, with another £200 million for a commissioned specialist ship capable of transporting the ‘massively heavy’ cable reels. The vessel would be shared with a third XLCC factory planned for Wales.
XLCC has instigated the planning process with North Ayrshire Council and a planning application is expected to go before committee in February next year. If consent is given work would begin in April, with another 400 jobs created during the construction phase. The schedule is for test lengths of cable to be made by April 2023, with 200 jobs in place at the start of that year.
Full manufacturing production will be underway by November 2024 with the remaining 700 jobs in place between May 2024 and November 2024.
Jim McSporran (pictured), Peel Ports Clydeport director, said: “We are very excited by the signing of this option, which — if realised — would result in many hundreds of high-quality jobs in one of Scotland’s highest unemployment areas.
“Our vision for Hunterston PARC, launched last year, was for the redevelopment of 300 acres to create a nationally significant energy and marine campus, bringing together leading industry operators, world-class universities and the latest innovators, and to deliver technological advances in areas such as power generation and aquaculture.
“The technology that is to be developed by XLCC would be a game changer for deep-sea renewable energy transmission and certainly falls into our vision remit; and while the scope of the development would give us an anchor tenant, we are also close to other major deals currently under non-disclosure agreements.”