Chamber and committees

An overall appraisal of the economic impacts associated with the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund has not been undertaken yet as many of the associated projects are still underway.

An overall appraisal of the economic impacts associated with the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund has not been undertaken yet as many of the associated projects are still underway.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that, in 2014, 21,000 people were employed directly in the low carbon and renewable energy economy in Scotland.

The first estimates from the new Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Survey were published by ONS on 9 December 2015 and provide regional estimates for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the number of businesses, turnover and full-time equivalent employees.

Comparable estimates for 2017-20 are not available.

The offshore wind industry has not yet reached sufficient scale to trigger a requirement for a new port or near port manufacturing location in Scotland.

Since its launch in November 2010, £10.9 million of funding support has been committed under the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund (NRIF). This has supported the development of the National Offshore Wind Test Centre at Hunterston, an offshore wind test facility at Methil, the reopening of Westway Dock in Renfrew and enhancements to Energy Park Fife. The NRIF has also informed the development of outline business cases for the upgrading of port infrastructure and associated manufacturing sites in Dundee, Cockenzie and Rosyth.

<>Very limited demand to date has emerged from the emerging offshore wind industry for new port or near-port manufacturing locations in Europe or the UK. No new port or near port manufacturing locations have been developed in Scotland where to date it has been possible to accommodate all demand from the offshore wind industry in a small number of existing and underutilised facilities.

The Scottish Government provides a range of funding to initiate and support renewable energy projects, to encourage technology development, and to stimulate private sector investment. For example, we have made over £50 million available for community and locally owned projects in 2015-16 under our Renewable Energy Investment Fund and Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, which has helped to unlock significant private sector investment and helped us achieve, five years early, our target for 500 megawatts of community and locally owned renewable energy to be installed by 2020.

The Scottish Government’s approach has been underpinned, until recently, by a stable UK-wide support regime for renewables. However, recent cuts to revenue support schemes including the Renewables Obligation and feed-in tariffs have created uncertainty for the sector, damaged investor confidence, and put at risk Scotland’s ability to achieve its renewable energy ambitions.

The Scottish Government has awarded the following research contracts relating to unconventional oil and gas:

‘Understanding and monitoring induced seismic activity’ will be undertaken by The British Geological Survey. The value for this work is £41,994.

‘Decommissioning, site restoration and aftercare – Obligations and treatment of financial liabilities’ will be undertaken by AECOM. The value for this work is £51,102.

‘Climate change impacts’ will be undertaken by the Committee on Climate Change. The value for this work is £61,980.

‘Economic impacts and scenario development’ will be undertaken by KPMG. The value for this work is £103,176.

These projects are due to be completed in summer 2016.

The Scottish Government will provide up to £75,000 to cover the additional costs incurred by Health Protection Scotland in delivering a Public Health Impact Assessment.

Scottish Renewables has estimated that Scotland’s renewable energy sector delivered around £1.04 billion of capital investment in 2014. Further information is available on the Scottish Renewables website at the following link: https://www.scottishrenewables.com/sectors/renewables-in-numbers/.

Figures published by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in April 2014 show that since 2010 the renewables industry has announced around £14.2 billion worth of investment in Scotland. Further information is available on the DECC website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-investment-report-april-2014.

<>The Draft Budget for 2015-16 sets out the level of private sector investment in the non-profit distributing pipeline, including projects being taken forward through the hub programme.