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Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF) today announced that it has appointed Calum MacPherson as its CEO.

An established leader, Calum was born in Inverness and finished his schooling at Charleston Academy before studying Law at Aberdeen University. After graduating Calum worked in a tax practise in Aberdeen focused primarily on clients in the oil & gas sector.

Calum returned to his native Highlands in Nov 1999 and worked for 12 years in economic development with development agency Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE), latterly holding a group wide senior role as Head of Operations then finally as Area Manager for the Moray region where he led a range of business, infrastructure, and community development initiatives.

In 2010 whilst with HIE Calum was appointed joint Chair of the Moray Task Force which promoted the case for retention of defence jobs in the region and helped support local communities. By working closely with partners, the task force was ultimately successful in retaining thousands of defence jobs for the north of Scotland.

In 2011 he joined national infrastructure business Robertson Group which is one of the UK’s largest family-owned infrastructure businesses; Recently Calum has been in a UK wide role leading the Robertson Capital Project business.

Calum lives near Beauly with his wife and two children, and he has watched with interest as the Green Freeport opportunity has developed thus far.
Commenting on the appointment ICFGF Chair, Jim Smith, said:

“As you would expect, the recruitment for a Chief Executive for ICFGF was an extensive selection process. We needed someone with the skillset and background to be able to hit the ground running.

“We are delighted to have attracted an individual of the calibre and experience that Calum brings. His knowledge will be a significant advantage allowing the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport to deliver on the ambitions outlined in our Green Freeport bid on job creation, inward investment, and decarbonisation.”

The newly appointed Chief Executive said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to lead an organisation that will play a central role in creating exciting careers for people across the Highlands and further afield, attracting large-scale international investment and playing a central role in delivering net zero; and putting Inverness and the Cromarty Firth firmly on the renewables map globally.

“I am honoured to be leading ICF Green Freeport Ltd as we move to the next phase of development. As a region we need to do all we can to capitalise on this window of opportunity, and by close working with consortium partners and stakeholders I’m confident we’ll be in a strong position to secure investment and new high-quality jobs.
ICFGF has the potential to be a really transformative story for local communities in the Highlands and beyond and I look forward to getting started.”

Calum, who is the currently Director of Capital Projects for Robertson Group, will take up the reins at ICFGF in August.

Port of Inverness is delighted to have played a key role in the successful Inverness and Cromarty Firth bid for Green Freeport status. As the celebrations abate, we’re now mapping out what the new Green Freeport will look like, what it will mean for the local economy and how we can maximise the benefits which will undoubtedly accompany our much-welcomed new status.

Several of the companies involved in the consortium behind the new Green Freeport are set to build wind farms off the north and east coasts, recognising the immense potential of the area for generating renewable energy and the opportunity that exists to build a world-class centre of excellence for the still emerging floating wind technology which allows wind turbines to be sited in deeper waters further offshore where the wind conditions are ideal for generating the maximum amount of green electricity.

The challenge will be to build these offshore projects in a sustainable way, keeping as much of the materials needed off the roads as possible. Port of Inverness and other ports and harbours across the country are set to play a vital role in decarbonising the supply chain for many of the upcoming offshore wind developments.

Research shows that shipping is by far the greenest and most efficient mode of transport. Compared to large trucks which emit on average 80 g of CO2 per kilometre and container trains which weigh in at 35g of CO2 emitted per kilometre, a large bulk carrier ship like the ones that call in at the Port of Inverness emits a meagre 2.5g of CO2 per kilometre travelled.

It seems logical then that shipping should play a major role in the new Green Freeport whilst also helping Scotland meet its stringent emissions targets. Moving goods by sea over short distances and without crossing oceans – short sea shipping as it’s known – currently accounts for roughly 40% of all freight moved in Europe. With one of the vessels that berths at Port of Inverness able to carry the same amount of goods as 100-200 trucks, transporting goods by ship is also far more efficient and cost-effective than road transport.

Like many other simple solutions to man-made issues short sea shipping has been around for hundreds of years. Establishing a modern-day sea motorway would help cut our climate damaging emissions but also result in smoother faster trade, reduced transport costs for businesses and easier stock control and management.

Shipping has already played a significant role in delivering renewable energy projects. With our extensive laydown areas and excellent road links, Port of Inverness has been the port of entry for several onshore wind farms over the years and our team have successfully delivered many projects all over the Highlands and Moray.

Our expertise can also be used to deliver other forms of green energy developments. As part of a move to address the issues of energy security and the intermittency of renewable energy production there are currently a number of pumped storage hydro schemes in the pipeline for the Great Glen. Acting in the same way as a very large battery, pumped storage hydro can be an important part of the energy generation mix, overcoming the problem of energy from wind only being produced when the wind is blowing.

As energy security becomes a more critical issue with the energy challenges resulting from the war in Ukraine, the importance of this traditional well-established technology which has been used in Scotland for decades is becoming clear. Again shipping has a vital part to play in ensuring these projects are built in an environmentally friendly way which ensures their benefits are not lost in the construction phase.

Port of Inverness is also home to, and joint owners of, the success story that is Inverness Marina. Full since the day it first opened, the financial benefits of Green Freeport status will allow us to move the marina slightly further up the Firth, extending it in the process and increasing the number and size of yachts it can welcome.

We also have plans to expand our cruise ship business, bringing more of the exclusive smaller cruise vessels to Inverness for a warm welcome in the Highland capital, from here visitors can easily travel to the many attractions on our doorstep, ensuring the economic benefits from our new Green Freeport status benefit businesses all around the Highlands.

Offshore wind industry vessel owner Zero-C Offshore has become the latest member of Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF), the consortium behind the bid for a Green Freeport centered on Inverness and the Cromarty Firth. 

The Aberdeen-based company is in the process of building a fleet of next generation British-flagged and owned ultra-low emissions heavy lift vessels for the offshore wind farm sector.

Zero-C Offshore said its project to build a zero-emission capable floating foundation installation vessel (FFIV) was “perfectly aligned” with the aims of OCF, as well as its own mission of “spearheading the growth of UK-led clean shipping” in the sector. And the company added the Cromarty Firth was “already synonymous” with the industry, with the extra-large jacket foundations being marshalled at the Global Energy Group’s deep-water Port of Nigg facility.

A spokesman for Zero-C Offshore said: “We are delighted to have become a member of Opportunity Cromarty Firth and are excited to be working with the consortium in its bid to secure Green Freeport status. 

“The Cromarty Firth is an ideal location for the manufacture, staging and deployment of windfarm foundations and other elements for the numerous windfarm projects planned around the coast of Britain.  We hope to make our fleet a feature of this ambitious initiative”

Speaking on behalf of OCF, Steve Chisholm of the Global Energy Group, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Zero–C Offshore to the OCF consortium.

“With the UK’s ambitious targets for offshore wind power generation, the need for the next generation heavy lift vessels they are set to deliver is crucial in achieving government milestones for offshore wind deployment and net-zero.”

The OCF consortium, launched in 2020, includes the ports of Cromarty Firth, Nigg and Inverness and also the Highlands’ largest air terminal and Inverness Airport Business Park.  It is backed by Inverness Chamber of Commerce and more than a dozen businesses, as well as public sector organisations, and academic bodies, including The Highland Council and UHI.The consortium’s bid for Green Freeport status, submitted to the Scottish and UK governments in June, is backed by 13 of the 17 winners of ScotWind seabed leases for new offshore windfarms.

The Cromarty Firth is widely regarded within the renewables sector as the only location in the country suitable for manufacturing equipment at the speed and scale needed to deliver cheaper electricity and energy security.

Leading Scotch whisky maker Whyte and Mackay has said the establishment of a Green Freeport in the Scottish Highlands would help it achieve its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

The firm, which is the largest distiller in the north of Scotland, is expected to be one of the first users of green hydrogen produced from a planned electrolyser on the Cromarty Firth.

And it believes its decarbonisation drive would be boosted by a scaling up of the clean gas production plant that would be enabled by Green Freeport status.

Whyte and Mackay owns five distilleries across Scotland, including Invergordon and The Dalmore on the Cromarty Firth, on the east coast of the Highlands.

The company funded a feasibility study for the electrolyser, along with fellow distillers Glenmorangie and Diageo, as well as ScottishPower, Storegga and the Port of Cromarty Firth  (PoCF).

ScottishPower and Storegga have since announced plans to jointly develop one of the UK’s largest green hydrogen plants in the area. The project’s first phase, expected to be operational in 2025, will be capable of producing up to 20 tonnes of green hydrogen a day, for use in distillery heating processes, as well as regional transportation.

The developers have said Green Freeport status for Inverness and the Cromarty Firth would have the potential to bring forward investment of more than £1billion in a larger-scale plant by up to 10 years and would place the Highlands “firmly at the centre of larger scale production” of the zero-emission fuel.

Whyte and Mackay’s Invergordon distillery is the largest in the north of Scotland and the company is one of the biggest employers in the Cromarty Firth area, with a workforce of around 130.

The firm voiced its support for the north Green Freeport in a letter included with the Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF) consortium’s bid, submitted to UK and Scottish ministers in June.

We have set a target to be carbon neutral by 2030 and we have a number of key projects to allow us to achieve this. Central to this is green gas, with a balanced approach between bio gas and green hydrogen.

We plan to begin taking green hydrogen from the electrolyser when operational; initially requiring two tonnes of green hydrogen per day. This is expected to rise to six tonnes per day by around 2030. This will require an infrastructure capex spend of circa £4-6million by 2030.

We are also heavily investing in a green biomethane anaerobic digestor plant that would have green hydrogen blended into its supply to allow us to generate enough green, carbon free gas to meet our ambition before 2030.

The Cromarty Firth area is of central importance to our business and where we also hold the vast majority of our maturing whisky inventory.

The freeport tax incentive can help accelerate the scale-up of the electrolyser and also reduce the cost of green hydrogen. This is important to allow us to achieve our ambitious decarbonisation goals and also to allow us to be competitive, as we encounter the cost disadvantages by operating in a semi-rural location, almost 200 miles from our bottling and distribution plant in Grangemouth.

The Opportunity Cromarty Firth submission is centred in the areas where we have our largest distilling and maturation footprint and we are fully supportive of the consortium and the benefit it can bring to our area and the community within.

Whyte and Mackay’s Distilling Director, Shane Healy

We would like to sincerely thank Whyte and Mackay for their strong expression of support for our bid.

They, along with Glenmorangie, Diageo, ScottishPower and Storegga have been instrumental in driving the development of a green hydrogen industry in the Highlands and fully support the scaling up of that industry that can be accelerated by the award of Green Freeport status.

As well as helping decarbonise industries, it is a sector that will play an important role in the drive towards regional and national energy security, creating high-quality green careers and supply chain opportunities.

With Green Freeport status for Inverness and the Cromarty Firth, there is a real opportunity for the UK to secure its position as a global leader and leading exporter of this clean fuel alternative.

Commenting on behalf of OCF, Port of Cromarty Firth Chief Executive, Bob Buskie,

Holtec International Signs Landmark MOU

Holtec International, a United States-based turnkey supplier of equipment and services for the nuclear, solar, geothermal and fossil power sectors has signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Global Energy Group (GEG).

The terms of the MOU will see GEG join Holtec International in a UK team in the nuclear sector as a specialist manufacturing and engineering partner for modular components for next generation Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and other mission critical components for the industry.

Talking about the agreement, Gareth Thomas, Director, Holtec Britain Ltd, said:

“This MOU is a key part of Holtec Britain’s strategy to take a prominent position within the UK in providing Holtec’s Small Modular Reactor SMR-160 technology and fabrication to support the government’s energy security strategy. Holtec are currently developing a world class supply chain of UK companies – including Global Energy Group – to deliver on SMR-160 fabrication capable of not only delivering in the UK but also providing export opportunity to the international market.

“The Holtec SMR-160 design is modular in construction and the prospect of a Green Freeport in the Cromarty Firth affords us the opportunity to ship in raw materials to be fabricated and modules/equipment constructed before onward transit either within the UK or abroad. In the fabrication phase, set to begin as early as 2026, the engineering package will be worth 10s or even 100s of millions of pounds per SMR project to the supply chain located within the catchment area of the port.”

The MoU is being hailed as a huge opportunity for the Highland region and Global Energy, which has wide-ranging experience in defence nuclear, decommissioning and manufacture. Steve Chisholm, Director of Operations and Innovation at Global Energy Group, commented:

“We are delighted to sign this landmark MOU with Holtec International. Not only do Global Energy Group have unrivalled deep-water facilities at the Port of Nigg where SMR components can be manufactured and shipped to anywhere in the world, we also have a highly skilled workforce developing and deploying new processes, such as electron beam welding, which has huge potential for nuclear. This MOU opens up a great opportunity to develop new processes and disruptive technologies for the cost-effective manufacture of SMRs, which have huge export potential.”

“Active in the nuclear sector since 2010, Global Energy is one of the very few accredited suppliers in the UK. Having manufactured radioactive waste storage vessels for Sellafield and mission-critical components for the Hinkley Point C cooling system at the Port of Nigg, producing components for SMRs – which are being viewed as a key part of the net-zero landscape – is a great opportunity for us as an organisation and for the wider Highland economy.”

Holtec International is currently supported by the US Government to develop and validate a SMR design for the US. It is in discussions with the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) about four possible UK sites for SMR-160s and has formed a UK team to deliver the projects, with Global Energy Group and other UK companies.

Holtec Joins Opportunity Cromarty Firth Green Freeport Bid

Following on from the inking of the MOU, Holtec Britain has joined Global Energy in the Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF) consortium bidding to be granted Green Freeport status. OCF believes that Green Freeport status for the Cromarty Firth would ‘revolutionise’ the Highland and Scottish economy leading to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

Speaking about the newest member of the OCF consortium, Steve Chisholm of Global Energy Group, said:

“We think Holtec Britain joining the OCF consortium is a huge boost for the bid. Adding nuclear sector capability to renewables and hydrogen makes the Cromarty Firth – where Holtec are exploring options for a permanent base with local government agencies – a unique proposition.”

“There’s a real opportunity to make the Highlands a centre of excellence for nuclear power technology and manufacture. Supporting that is the huge pool of experienced talent in the Highland & Islands who worked at Dounreay and HMC Vulcan that can be tapped into.”

Holtec’s Gareth Thomas, commented:

“Holtec have undertaken diligence to support our choice of where to locate and whom to engage with to support our SMR-160 program. We have looked at the fantastic opportunities that would be afforded to us by being part of this Green Freeport. The existing experienced nuclear workforce, the excellence of manufacturing companies and the excellent academic links within the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) are all reason why Holtec are supportive of this bid and would wish to be a part of a successful Green Freeport.”

“A successful Freeport bid would deliver the biggest economic change to the Highlands and Islands since records began. It would be critical for retaining a skilled workforce, providing quality sustainable jobs and growing not just the Highland economy but that of Scotland and the wider UK.”

Jamie Stone MP said:

“The Highlands boast a record of excellence in nuclear engineering, with many fantastically skilled scientists, engineers and tradespeople across the region. The expansion of Opportunity Cromarty Firth’s Green Freeport bid to include Holtec is therefore very welcome indeed.”

“It’s quite simple – the success of this bid would be transformative for the Highlands, with investment into permanent infrastructure and jobs that we have not seen in my lifetime. I strongly urge the Scottish and UK governments to agree to grant Green Freeport status to the Cromarty Firth.”