Breen, Coady visit Scotland offshore wind farm as part of European energy conference

The mayor of St. John's sat on a panel this week in Aberdeen, Scotland, speaking about "energy resilient" cities around the world, and got a first-hand look at one of the largest offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom.

The St. John's mayor spoke about how the energy industry is changing in Newfoundland and Labrador, and how the city will be 98 per cent dependent on renewable energy by 2020, thanks to hydroelectric project Muskrat Falls.

"This industry has changed a lot in the last couple years I've been involved on the outside watching it," he told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show Friday morning. 

"It's moved to an energy focus. It's not about oil as it was predominantly before. And diversification of energy, renewable energy sources and looking at difference sources."

Breen toured one of those different sources while in Scotland, visiting the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre — a large wind farm off the coast of Aberdeen.

"It's quite impressive to go through it," he said. "Wind is something we have a lot of off our coast and I think offshore wind production, there's a future for it."

Breen was joined on the tour by Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady.

Newfoundland and Labrador has taken flak in the past for having barriers that prevent wind power from taking off in the province, despite having potential to create plenty of power.

The Aberdeen wind farm has the capacity to produce just shy of 100 megawatts of electricity each year through 11 turbines situated about three kilometres offshore. It can power about 70 per cent of the households in the city and 23 per cent of the city's overall electricity demand.

Creating connections hard without flights

Breen and Coady also attended the SPE Offshore Europe conference — a global gathering of oil and gas stakeholders in Aberdeen every second year.

The trip was a good way to make connections and see how other people are doing business in other parts of the world, Breen said.

There was just one hiccup. Getting to Scotland.

With no direct flight to London or Dublin from St. John's anymore, Breen said the flight time was a challenge.

He left St. John's on Saturday afternoon and had to fly through Toronto and London to get to Aberdeen on Sunday evening.

"That's making the connections between Newfoundland and Europe very difficult," he said.

WestJet cancelled its Dublin flight last November, while Air Canada axed its direct-to-Heathrow flight in March after Boeing's Max 8 planes were grounded.

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