SCOTASH has won the Sustainable Development Award in the Scottish Green Energy Awards 2014.

The awards, now in their 12th year and sponsored by EDF Energy Renewables, were held as it was revealed that renewable energy became Scotland’s main source of power in the first six months of 2014.

Katrina Manson, ScotAsh’s finance business partner, received the award at a ceremony organised by industry body Scottish Renewables at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in front of 1250 people from the renewable energy sector on Thursday 27 November.

She said: “ScotAsh received the award as the company’s sustainable cements have been used in upwards of 20 windfarms across Scotland during the last 10 years.

“Our cements, which include a proportion of re-engineered ash, have a significantly lower carbon footprint than traditional Portland cements and offer important strength benefits for the foundations of large wind turbines.

“Our products have been supporting the wind industry in Scotland – quite literally – for many years.” Over the last five years, more than 135,000 tonnes of ash-based products from ScotAsh, based at Longannet, have been used in onshore windfarms, saving 40,000 tonnes of CO2.

ScotAsh products were used during the construction of Whitelee Windfarm, currently the largest in Europe, and other windfarms supplied in recent years include Baillie, Fallago Rig, Griffin, Cailliacher, Berryburn and Langhope Rig.

ScotAsh chairman, Allan Everett, said: “ScotAsh has been working with the renewables sector in Scotland for many years now, helping to ensure that windfarm developers can minimise the carbon footprint of construction. We are delighted that the sustainability benefits of our products have been recognised by this prestigious industry award.”