Oil and gas entrepreneurs who expect to provide thousands of people with the skills needed to support the development of low carbon energy assets in Scotland have won multi-million pound official backing.
The Aurora Energy Services venture founded by Douglas Duguid and Michael Buchan has secured a debt-funding package worth up to £20 million from the Scottish National Investment Bank, which has completed a flurry of deals this month.
The bank said the funding will back Aurora’s drive to bolster and expand a network of regional training hubs and workshop facilities it said could provide vital support for the green energy supply chain.
Aurora expects to be able to make a big contribution to the effort to ensure Scotland has enough people with the skills needed to maximise the potential of clean energy sources by retraining veterans of the oil and gas industry. It aims to equip newcomers to the energy industry with the skills required through an apprenticeship programme.
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Aurora will also offer operational support for firms that develop and operate clean energy assets.
The bank said Aurora expects to service projects across the renewables sector, including wind, solar, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, pumped hydro and waste to energy.
The support package provides a valuable vote of confidence in Aurora, which Mr Duguid launched with Mr Buchan in June 2022 to provide support services for oil and gas and other energy businesses.
They founded Aurora after helping to grow Enermech into one of Scotland’s most successful oil services businesses.
Enermech was sold to US private equity group Carlyle in 2018 in a deal thought to be worth £450m.
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Mr Duguid said the bank’s support would allow Aurora to accelerate its progress on several fronts.
“The wind sector is an important part of Aurora’s future expansion plans, but other renewable technologies like hydrogen, carbon capture and storage and pumped hydro are also key. The Bank’s support means we can speed up our strategic expansion in those areas,” said Mr Duguid.
He added: “It will enhance our recruitment of people living and working in rural Scotland and allow us to be able to offer more job and training opportunities in a shorter timeframe.”
Jimmy Williamson, executive director at Scottish National Investment Bank, underlined his confidence that members of the “exceptional” Aurora team would be able to use expertise developed in the oil and gas and industrials markets to support the development of the renewables sector.
“For Scotland to be able to harness the opportunities in renewable energy infrastructure, the right skills and a ready workforce are a critical dependency,” said Mr Williamson.
“Aurora’s remit to develop new talent and retrain workers who already have deep, critical energy sector knowledge is a vital link in realising the potential before us.”
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Aurora has established a training centre in Inverness.
A spokesperson for the bank said Aurora expects to train 1,000 people annually in Inverness.
Around 10 per cent of trainees are expected to be apprentices new to the energy industry.
Aurora also has bases in Aberdeen, Huntly and Wick.
The support for Aurora will be part-financed by capital from the £500 Just Transition Fund established by the Scottish Government in 2021 to help North East Scotland and Moray reduce their dependence on oil and gas activity. The Scottish Government allocated £25m from the fund to the investment bank last year.
It previously committed to providing the bank with £2 billion firepower over 10 years.
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Founded under an initiative launched by Alex Salmond, the bank started operations in 2020.
Its first chief executive Eilidh Mactaggart resigned in February 2022 after the bank was accused of having had limited impact.
Asset management industry veteran Al Denholm became chief executive of the bank in April last year.
The bank says it has committed £508m to date. This includes over £100 million into businesses supporting the energy transition.
Earlier this week the bank announced it had made an additional £18m investment in the Trojan Energy electric vehicle charging operation. The bank invested £9m in Trojan in September 2022.
Last week the bank provided £6m for cancer therapy specialist Cumulus Oncology.
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