November 2014

The first milestone was set for the biomass-fired power plant in Speyside, Scotland on 21 November 2014 when on a clear autumn day, in front of press and television, local and national politicians including the head of Moray Council, Stewart Cree, and the Chief Executive of the Moray Chamber of Commerce Margery McLennan and other invited guests, the UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander MP, performed a ground-breaking ceremony to give the official start to the project.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Danny Alexander in his address emphasised the importance of this project for the region and stressed that in this way a link is being created between the renewable energy industry and the existing whisky industry. He praised the creation of new jobs in the region and the involvement of local firms in the project.

Following his speech, Danny Alexander operated the excavator personally to carry out the first ground-breaking on the construction site. As a small souvenir a bottle of whisky from the neighbouring Macallan distillery was presented by the developers.

With the ground-breaking ceremony the starting signal was given in Speyside for the construction of the biomass-fired power plant.