THOUSANDS of jobs are in the pipeline under £40 million plans to create Scotland’s largest renewable energy hub in Edinburgh. Proposals by Forth Ports would see the development of a riverside marine berth capable of accommodating the world’s largest offshore wind installation vessels on a 175-acre site at the Port of Leith. The company claims the plans could create 1000 direct, long-term jobs and 2000 indirect jobs and have received backing from the Scottish Government, local authority leaders as well as green industry figures. Charles Hammond, group chief executive of Forth Ports, said: “This is a pump-priming investment in logistics and marine infrastructure at the Port of Leith as we harness Scotland’s natural resources for future generations and has the potential to play a significant part in our forthcoming Firth of Forth Green Port bid.
Thousands of jobs are in the pipeline under £40 million plans to create Scotland’s largest renewable energy hub in Edinburgh.
Proposals by Forth Ports would see the development of a riverside marine berth capable of accommodating the world’s largest offshore wind installation vessels on a 175-acre site at the Port of Leith.
The company claims the plans could create 1,000 direct, long-term jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs and have received backing from the Scottish Government, local authority leaders as well as green industry figures.
Charles Hammond, group chief executive of Forth Ports, said: “This is a pump-priming investment in logistics and marine infrastructure at the Port of Leith as we harness Scotland’s natural resources for future generations and has the potential to play a significant part in our forthcoming Firth of Forth Green Port bid.
Green infrastructure investment is being jeopardised by regulations in the UK that favour EU energy imports, according to new research by the Renewable Infrastructure Development Group (RIDG).
The research shows that operators in Germany, France and the Netherlands are able to export energy cheaper than projects in the UK, because they pay low transmission charges or none at all, the researchers found.
Electricity generators in the UK pay transmission charges for the cost of building and maintaining the network, set by the regulator Ofgem and ultimately paid by consumers as part of their bills, RIDG noted.
Therefore, the UK risks becoming a net importer of renewable energy in the decades ahead, despite having the best wind energy resource in Europe which should, with the right regulations in place, be used to drive export-led growth, said trade group RenewableUK.