Natural Futures Summit
On Tuesday 15th September Nick Forrest attended the inaugural Natural Futures Summit in Inverness, organised by solicitors Harper Macleod. The event featured presentations and seminars on Scotland’s natural capital and energy transition agenda, largely connected to land aspects of renewable energy projects. The term ‘natural capital’ reflects the inherent value that nature has in the form of habitats, the wildlife that lives there, the resources they produce, and the many benefits that accrue to people that have the pleasure of visiting nature. Any development like a wind farm must have habitat restoration and enhancement built in so that the impact is not just neutral, but an overall benefit to nature. Terms like Biodiversity Net Gain are being used to help measure such positive effects, such as from wildflower mixes sown between solar panels to attract insects and birds. The solar industry produces an annual report on how solar farms can function as valuable habitats – see Solar Energy UK’s latest report on their website, at https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/solar-habitat-2026
– Carbon credits
– Offshore wind
– Data centres
– Grid infrastructure
– Place and communities
– Repowering
The stream on data centres included some surprising statistics, and there were more audience questions that the allocated time allowed for. Repowering was also a hot topic, with a developer on the panel explaining how to navigate a series of obstacles, while a land agent beside him was racking up those same obstacles as leverage for future negotiations.
Nick found time for a catchup with Omar Ali (pictured), who chaired the Offshore Wind stream on behalf of Harper Macleod, and is the lead solicitor on land matters for our Neven Point Wind Farm project.
It was pleasing to see such a diversity of subjects explored in a new setting, as an alternative to the prevailing renewables industry conferences, and GreenPower looks forward to next year’s Future Energy Summit.
