Scottish energy experts were also advising the Phillipines visitors that, the uncertainty that now in the UK  is experiencing with renewable surrounds  a planned reduction of what emerged to be overly generous feed-in tariffs that can be avoided, they said

“UK has set its initial tariffs too high,” said Johnnie Andringa (right) CEO of turbine assembler Gaia-Wind Ltdsaid referring to the guaranteed payment renewable energy producers get from the state. 

The British Hydro Association also claims dozens of small and medium-scale developments have been halted and left in limbo since the Department of Energy and Climate Change announced a review of the FIT process last year. 

WHISKY  BIOBUTANOL 
Meantime Edinburgh Napier University's Celtic Renewables Ltd will initially focus on Scotland's £4bn pounds malt whisky industry to develop biobutanol and other chemicals. The company has saysthat the process also had "huge global potential" to be adapted to other biological by-products.

Celtic Renewables is currently working with Scottish Enterprise to produce the biofuel from sustainable resources on an industrial scale. The fermentation procedure uses two main by-products of whisky production - 'pot ale', which is the residue left in copper stills, and 'draff', the spent grains.

According to the research, biobutanol provides 25% more power output than the traditional bioethanol. Compared to ethanol, butanol can run in unmodified engines with petrol and may also be mixed with diesel and biodiesel.

"The Scottish malt whisky industry is a ripe resource for developing biobutanol," Prof Martin Tangney, founder of Celtic Renewables and director of Napier University's Biofuel Research Centre, said.

"The pot ale and draff could be converted into biofuel as a direct substitute for fossil-derived fuel, which would reduce oil consumption and CO2 emissions while also providing energy security - particularly in the rural and remote homelands of the whisky industry."