The arrival of a giant oil rig at Dundee harbour will focus renewed attention on the industrial part of the city’s harbour.
The Rowan Stavanger jack-up rig is 170 metres tall and nearly twice the height of the stack of the biomass plant proposed for the harbour.
It was in the estuary on Monday and is to be towed upstream for arrival at Prince Charles Wharf at about 3pm on Tuesday.
The main vessel towing her will be the Island Vanguard, with four other tugs assisting. The rig is from the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and it will be in Dundee for three weeks of maintenance.
It will be highly visible but a spokesman for the port said its arrival represents good business.
The height of the proposed biomass plant has been an aspect promoted by some of the scheme’s opponents as one of the reasons for its refusal, because it would be a blot of the landscape.
Supporters disagree and point out that it would be sited in the industrial part of the waterfront where industry should be allowed to prosper.
The rig, rising 170 metres above the water level, will give a perspective to the visual impact of the renewable energy plant being considered for King George V Wharf, which will have a stack measuring 90 metres.
Meanwhile, tickets for The Courier’s public debate into the biomass proposal are going well. Around three-quarters of the 400 seats for the event at the Gardyne Theatre on Wednesday evening had been booked.