Notice: The Chamber's documentation and customs declaration services announce festive opening hours. Click here to view.

Scotland should not be seen as simply a production base for renewable energy, a prominent politician has warned.

Net-Zero and Energy Secretary Michael Matheson says Scotland must also be a centre for manufacturing and testing the technology that will underpin the energy transition.

He told a wind conference in Manchester that Holyrood is "not prepared" to repeat the mistakes of the past around green job creation.

Energy Voice says that, more than 15 years ago, then-First Minister Alex Salmond predicted that Scotland would become the "Saudi Arabia of renewables".

But, since then, the lion's share of the manufacturing work for wind farms in Scottish waters has been sent overseas, leaving Scottish businesses both disappointed and angry.

Promises of a long-awaited green jobs revolution are now met with scepticism, though there are hopes that the recent ScotWind leasing round could mark a step change.

Mr Matheson says it is "absolutely essential" the energy transition is delivered in a "fair and just way".

He said: "Scotland is not prepared to just accept to be a production base for renewable energy. There's also got to be a manufacturing centre for the technologies that go alongside that.

"As a government we will pursue that ruthlessly through the processes that we are taking forward through areas such as at ScotWind. That's why we need to make sure that we maximise the potential of our natural resources in offshore wind, and we also need to make sure that we are maximising the jobs associated with this sector.

"We haven't achieved as much as we would have wanted to in the past, particularly with onshore wind, and we're certainly not prepared to make that mistake again when it comes to offshore floating wind in particular."

Scotland is also a solar energy hot spot

But there is much more to renewables in Scotland than just wind.

The countryside north of the border is becoming a solar energy hot spot, where farmers and landowners are increasingly approached by developers looking for land to generate energy.

Solar farms are seen as a significant renewables opportunity.

Earlier this month, Aberdeenshire councillors backed plans for Scotland’s largest solar farm to be built near St Fergus.

Irish firm Elgin Energy is looking to construct the new Kirkton Solar Farm along the north-east coast.

The application is being considered by the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit, however Aberdeenshire Council was asked to give its views on the plan.

Once installed, the 50MW development would generate enough energy to power 15,000 homes or 20,000 electric cars.

More like this…

View all