Wind turbine manufacturing could create 5000 jobs across Scotland

 

Author - David Ross © The Herald Originally published: 28/7/2010

More than 5000 jobs could be created by the development of planned wind turbine manufacturing sites around port locations in Scotland, Alex Salmond said yesterday.

Under the plans, 11 sites across three regional clusters would manufacture 750 complete offshore wind turbines a year, for use both in Scotland and for the export market.

About £223 million of private and public investment would be needed to upgrade the sites, creating 5180 jobs with an annual economic impact of up to £294.5m each year.

Stage two of the national renewables infrastructure plan, published yesterday by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, was welcomed by the First Minister as he and Cabinet colleagues met in Dornoch.

The sites in question are Leith, Dundee, Nigg, the Energy Park at Methil, Hunterston, Aberdeen, Arnish, Campbeltown/Machrihanish, Ardersier, Kishorn and Peterhead.

However, Salmond warned: “Unlocking the potential of these sites requires initial investment from both the private and public sectors. This report underlines the case for early investment and therefore it’s now urgent for the Treasury to release Scotland’s £185m fossil fuel levy to further develop the renewables industry.”

Salmond said the Treasury’s refusal to release any of this money without deducting a

similar amount from what the Scottish Government gets to spend on the likes of health and education was tantamount to “grand international larceny of a scale not seen since the

Spanish stole the Inca gold.”

He said the money had to be invested in Scotland’s renewable revolution, with the country’s waters estimated to have as much as one-quarter of Europe’s potential offshore wind and tidal energy resource and a 10th of the wave power capacity.

Meanwhile, UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne outlined a series of measures to improve energy efficiency, boost renewables and allow new nuclear projects to go ahead as he laid out the Government’s energy policy.

In the first annual energy statement to the Commons, Huhne set out plans to secure the UK energy supplies and cut carbon emissions while “keeping the lights on”.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change published a series of “pathways” for how the energy system might look in 2050, outlining the scale of the challenge of meeting the legally binding target to cut emissions by 80% by then.

Measures include efforts to speed up the roll-out of smart meters, provide incentives for heat produced from renewable sources, to bring in emissions performance standards for power plants to make them cut their greenhouse gases, and to speed up connection of offshore wind farms to the grid.