Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond today announced a £70 million investment fund to support the development of offshore wind in the region.
The National Renewables Infrastructure Fund will support port and manufacturing facilities, as well as the offshore wind turbine manufacturing supply chain.
The fund, which is being delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise until 2015, is hoped to leverage significant private sector investment as well.
An estimated 7000 offshore wind turbines could be erected in UK waters over the next ten years and Scotland wants to be at the centre of that development.
The development could bring and estimated £7.1 billion to Scotland’s economy and support around 28,000 jobs.
“Together with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise, we are determined to stimulate the market and act decisively to trigger vital capital investment and launch the next phase of Scotland’s renewables revolution,” says Salmond, speaking at RenewableUK 2010 conference in Glasgow.
The fund is now open for initial expressions from port owners or consortia of owners, developers and manufacturers until 10 December.
The new investment trumps the UK Government’s £60 million announced earlier this month for the development of ports in England to support the burgeoning offshore wind industry.
Salmond is also calling on the UK Government to remove restrictions on access to £191 million generated by the Fossil Fuel Levy in Scotland.
“We must… continue to press the Treasury to release these funds now due to Scotland. They remain vital for the development of offshore wind and marine power, for heat networks and technology to deliver our renewable heat targets,” he says.
Salmond had wanted to use the Levy to secure an even larger ‘green’ investment fund for Scotland. But the Treasury has maintained that the Levy funds count as part of the region’s block grant.