Transcript Scotland’s Renewable Energy Industry – Opportunities and

Stephen Boyd, Assistant Secretary, Scottish Trades Union Congress
SCOTLAND’S RENEWABLE ENERGY
INDUSTRY – OPPORTUNITIES
AND CHALLENGES
Content
 Opportunities
 STUC aspirations
 Policy context
 Progress to date
 Barriers
 Conclusions
Opportunities
Scotland possesses:
 25% of Europe’s onshore and offshore
resource
 25% of Europe’s tidal resource
 10% of Europe’s wave resources
 Biomass, hydrogen
 Massive potential for deployment of
emerging carbon capture and storage
technology in North Sea
STUC aspirations
A growing renewables sector should:
 Create quality, sustainable employment
 …particularly in fragile remote economies
 Reinvigorate Scottish manufacturing
 Use existing skills base effectively
 Develop advantage in skills of the future
 Contribute to climate change targets
Policy Context
 Economic and social policy
 Scottish and UK Government energy policy
 Climate Change (Scotland) Bill
Economic and Social Policy
Scot Govt Economic Strategy Targets
 To match GDP growth rate of small independent EU
countries by 2017
 To raise Scotland’s GDP growth to the UK level by 2017
The ‘golden rules’
 Solidarity: to increase proportion of income earned by
the lowest 3 income deciles as a group by 2017
 Cohesion: to narrow the gap in (labour market)
participation between Scotland’s best and worst
performing regions by 2017
 Sustainability: to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050
Energy Policy
UK target
 20% of electricity supply from renewable
energy from 2020
Scottish targets
 31% of electricity supply by 2011
 50% of electricity supply by 2020
 16,000 jobs in renewables by 2020
Climate Change (Scotland) Bill
 Stage 3 debate taking place today
 Interim target of 42% reduction in
greenhouse gases by 2020
 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050
Progress to date 1
 3000 jobs
 Total renewables capacity installed,
consented or under construction is 5.5 GW –
more than 31% of gross energy consumption
 Whitelees – biggest onshore windfarm in
Europe heading towards completion
 Clyde – consent granted for 200 turbine
onshore windfarm; guarantee of at least
£200m of contracts for Scottish firms
Progress to date 2
 European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) test
facility established in Orkney
 Scottish marine energy developers
recognised as world leaders
 Sites identified and leasing programmes
underway for tidal and offshore wind
developments
 Saltire Prize
Barriers 1
 Infrastructure – massive investment required
to upgrade grid network and connect projects
in remote areas
 Regulatory framework – working against
achievement of renewables targets and rural
job creation
 Capital – ongoing failure to provide patient,
committed finance to growing, innovative
firms
Barriers 2
 Absence of feed-in tariff – stifling progress on




microgeneration
Skills – emerging constraints
Planning - under resourced Local Authority
Planning Departments
Natura 2000 – ‘absolutist’ approach to
implementation of Birds and habitats
Directives
Nimby-ism
Conclusions
 Employment dividend to date is insufficient
to justify extravagant political rhetoric
 Development must deliver quality jobs to
Scotland’s fragile remote economies
 Market fundamentalism continues to slow
progress
 Direct state role in resolving barriers is
justified and indeed essential
[email protected]