SNP manifesto hails strength of Scotland's green economy after hopes for windfarm jobs boom fade
John Swinney has tried to demonstrate his commitment to the net zero drive by recycling boasts about the SNP Government’s record that are long past their sell by date.
The first minister made extravagant claims about the progress the Scottish Government has made in the SNP manifesto for the coming Holyrood elections which he launched on Friday.
The manifesto highlighted the importance of energy matters as Mr Swinney tried to reignite the debate about independence following the SNP’s miserable performance in the last Westminster elections.
Just like his predecessors, he insisted Scotland was making better progress towards a green nirvana than other parts of the UK and would move even faster if freed from the dead hand of London control.
“Scotland is now more than halfway to net zero and we continue to be ahead of the UK as a whole in delivering long term emissions reductions,” the manifesto declared.
“We have harnessed our vast natural resources to develop a leading global renewable energy sector. This has resulted in the regular generation of clean energy that surpasses domestic consumption, supporting tens of thousands of skilled jobs in cutting-edge renewable technology industries.”
Read more
- Scotland windfarm cost concerns mount amid Iran war fallout
- North Sea oil giant rubs salt into SNP energy minister's wounds
- Pensions giant buyout sparks concern for hundreds of Edinburgh finance jobs
- Scottish energy heavyweight vindicated after spat with US investors
But the Manifesto is notably short of evidence to support those comments.
The claim about emissions reductions lacks detail and seems to ignore the contribution that has been made by the deindustrialisation process in Scotland, which the SNP Government has not slowed.
Efforts to compensate for the devastating closure of the Grangemouth refinery in April last year will rely heavily on £200m funding pledged by the UK Government. The Scottish Government has invested around £20m in the Project Willow plan to reinvent the plant since the refinery closure triggered 420 job losses.
The SNP manifesto notes that team Swinney has earmarked £9m to help the 400 workers who lost their jobs following the closure of the Mossmorran ethylene plant in February. The UK Government has matched that commitment.
When it comes to renewables, Scotland can generate more electricity from sources such as wind than is required to meet householders’ needs, depending on weather conditions, but it relies on hydrocarbons to fuel its remaining industries.
Oil and gas prices surged after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in February.
SNP first ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf opposed plans for the giant Cambo and Rosebank oil and gas developments off Shetland, which supporters say could support energy security in Scotland and thousands of jobs.
Renewables output is erratic and much of the capacity developed in Scotland will be squandered until the transmission networks needed to take power to where customers live are developed, along with effective storage systems.
As things stand, investment in networks is funded by UK householders. Plans for huge pumped storage hydro developments in the Highlands are heavily dependent on UK Government support.
The SNP manifesto does not include any information to show where the “tens of thousands” of skilled renewables jobs figure comes from. The SNP Government has a record of playing fast and loose with green job numbers.
Ministers have made much of research by economists at Strathclyde University who estimated that 42,000 jobs were supported across the renewables supply chain in 2021. However, the specialists concerned warned not to read too much into the numbers which they said came with a “moderately large margin of error”.
In its manifesto for the Holyrood elections, Offshore Energies UK says 110,000 jobs are at stake in “long established energy communities in the oil and gas sector”.
The SNP manifesto says the Scottish Government will harness the full potential of clean energy by accelerating investment in offshore wind, solar, pumped storage and (unspecified) emerging technologies.
But the tract offers no explanation of how SNP ministers will respond to clear signs that hopes of a boom in windfarm development have faded in recent months.
In November Shell axed plans for a floating windfarm off Scotland that was expected to generate £3bn work for the supply chain.
The manifesto also glosses over the fact that the much-vaunted offshore wind sector has not delivered much for Scotland to date in terms of supply chain investment and jobs.
The Fraser of Allander researchers found 15,000 jobs were supported by the wider offshore wind supply chain in 2021, compared with a forecast of 28,000 hailed by Scottish Enterprise in 2010.
Last week news about a project involving turbines fixed to the seabed provided further evidence that Scotland will enjoy only a limited share of the economic benefits resulting from windfarm developments off the country.
The overseas investors leading work on the Inch Cape windfarm off the Angus coast highlighted the interest generated by the sight of huge turbine structures for the facility being lined up in Leith before being towed offshore.
The release noted that up to 100 jobs could be created in the port when installation activity peaks.
But the costs concerned will represent a limited share of the overall £3.5 billion project budget. The most valuable work, including the production of turbine blades and the giant vessels that will take them offshore, is being done in yards in continental Europe and China.
This underlines the fact that Scotland is only a tiny cog in the lucrative global wind power machine, in which it serves as a provider of minor support services.
While SNP first ministers since Alex Salmond have pontificated about how much they have done to support the wind supply chain, Scotland has not developed the factories required for labour intensive work such as turbine blade production.
By contrast, Hull has a turbine blade plant that employs around 1,300 people.
Some 300 people work at the turbine blade plant opened on the Isle of Wight in 2002. In January the UK Government said it had secured the plant’s future by awarding it a £20m grant.
Mr Swinney served in the administration led by Nicola Sturgeon that missed the best chance to develop turbine production capacity in Scotland when it allowed the Burntisland Fabrications operation in Fife to go under in 2020.
Ministers said their hands were tied by rules on state aid set by the EU, which the SNP manifesto says Scotland should rejoin.
The Scottish Government waited years for China’s Ming Yang to commit to plans to build a giant turbine production plant near Inverness before UK ministers blocked the scheme in March on security grounds.
Mr Swinney is pinning his hopes on Vestas of Denmark riding to the rescue.
In March Vestas said it planned to build a turbine component plant in Scotland that could create 500 jobs. Last week the company confirmed Leith remained its preferred location.
However, Vestas has made clear it will only go ahead if it can be confident of winning enough orders for windfarms off the UK. The company noted in March that this would depend on projects winning revenue support under the Contracts for Difference programme, which is funded by householders across the UK.
An independent Scotland would have to develop and fund a new support programme.
Even if the Leith plant plan wins approval the facility will not be operational until 2029 at the earliest.
It’s worth remembering that firms have been working on plans for the Inch Cape windfarm since 2008. Developers have grappled with technical issues, a lengthy planning process and commercial challenges that involved negotiating with 22 banks.
But the SNP manifesto cited the long timescales involved in the construction of nuclear plants as one of the reasons for the party maintaining its opposition to the development of such plants.
While the Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian took almost a decade to build it has been generating huge amounts of low carbon energy for 38 years.
With the plant scheduled to close in 2030, some of the 730 full time workers there are probably planning to move to parts of the UK that will benefit from investment in new nuclear power stations.
Last week North Wales welcomed the prospect of 8,000 new jobs after plans to build a a pioneering modular reactor on Anglesey won UK Government approval.
Share