Scotland’s renewable energy supply chain at risk

To much fanfare, offshore developers were pledging £16 billion of potential investment in the production of renewable infrastructure, however to date not a single factory has been created in Scotland. 

Danish manufacturer, Vestas, has explored plans to build the first factory making wind turbine blades in Leith – yet a final investment decision has not been made.

Whilst Scotland is being used a hotbed for renewable energy generation, creating far in excess of its domestic needs, the economic benefits are still not materialising.

The Scottish Borders in particular is a hot spot for wind farms. By 2030, it is expected that Scotland’s peak demand will be 5.3 GW (5300 MW) which means that 20% of Scotland’s total energy requirement by 2030 is already being generated in the Borders.

With lots more wind farm sites in the planning pipeline, many local people are concerned about the over proliferation of wind turbines particularly in regards to visual impact, grid connectivity, nature, community benefit, and more.

Scotland has scaled up its onshore and offshore wind capacity, and continues to do so, but won’t actually be able to reap the economic benefits of this until there is the ability to build and supply the components for wind turbines locally. This in turn means that jobs and skills associated with the renewable energy industry will continue to shift overseas.

Whilst some level of investment in the supply chain is happening, it is nowhere near the scale that was hoped. And without the capacity to build locally, the investment will need to go elsewhere.

The new Labour government at Westminster has pledged to boost manufacturing of renewables to ensure Scotland and the UK better enjoys the financial benefits of the renewables boom.

Is this pledge of multi-billion-pound investment necessary? Will this impact the industrial strategy for Scotland?