The Scottish Government has been forced to correct misleading figures overstating Scotland’s offshore wind potetial.

SNP ministers have long claimed Scotland had 25% of Europe’s capacity for offshore wind power, however, the real figure, uncovered by the pro-union thinktank, These Islands, is just 6.8%.

Details of the downgrade were found in the annex to a letter sent to a Holyrood committee in September, leading to accusations of a "contempt for transparency".

READ MORE: SNP under fire for 'completely fictitious' renewables potential figure

The 25% figure had been used since 2010 and featured in the Scottish Government's 2014 white paper which made the case for independence.

Last year, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) said the claim was "inflated" and "inaccurate."

These Islands submitted a freedom of information request to the government asking if any update was available. 

They were told that it had been "included in an annexe to a letter sent to Edward Mountain MSP, the Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee" sent on 21 September. 

These Islands also discovered that Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, initially wanted there to be no public record of the updated statistic at all.

In an email dated 19th September 2023, an unnamed official in his office said the minister was "not sure we need to draw further attention to the issue with a letter to committee unless we committed to publicise our update."

These Islands said ministers had attempted to bury the correction.

They said: "For over a decade, the Scottish Government was overstating Scotland’s share of Europe’s offshore wind potential by a factor of about four times.

"There is significant public interest in the Scottish Government’s handling of statistics around renewable energy.

"Neil Gray should now make a full statement on the updating of this statistic to the Scottish Parliament, thereby properly fulfilling his predecessor’s multiple commitments to do so."

READ MORE: How much power is Scotland's offshore wind set to deliver?

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Scotland has tremendous offshore renewable generation potential so there should be no need for ministers to rely on bogus, inflated statistics.

“Ministers repeatedly refused to tell the truth about their dodgy calculations and now we know that they sought to hush up the actual figures when they were caught bang to rights.

“That’s an indictment of the moral character of this government. Trust is an important currency and ministers are stony broke.

“I’d love to say that this would encourage SNP ministers to turn over a new leaf, but I fully expect them to carry on spreading misinformation and trying to avoid owning up for as long as possible.”

Mr Gray told the BBC his update was "there in full daylight for everyone to see", adding that it had "hardly been a secret".

"This is a good news story," he added "It shows that Scotland has a substantial amount of Europe's renewable energy potential."

"The figure has now been clarified, which I hope will now put that debate to rest and ensure that we are able to focus now on delivering that massive potential," he added.