(S4O-01867) Offshore Wind

6. Lewis Macdonald (North East Scotland) (Lab):

To ask the Scottish Government what contribution Scotland’s offshore wind resources will make to meeting European Union renewable energy targets. (S4O-01867)

The Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism (Fergus Ewing): With over one quarter of the European offshore wind resource, Scotland is ideally placed to make a significant contribution to the European Union target of generating 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Lewis Macdonald: Does Fergus Ewing acknowledge that it is because Aberdeen has the highest concentration of offshore energy expertise anywhere in Europe that the EU wants to invest in a wind energy deployment centre in Aberdeen bay? Does he agree that it is important to send out the right signals about the priority that Scotland gives to further development of offshore wind technologies?

Fergus Ewing: As Lewis Macdonald will be aware, Scottish ministers must refrain from commenting on live applications: it would not be appropriate for me to make specific comment on any application that is before us.

However, to answer the question in a general sense, it is absolutely correct that Aberdeen possesses expertise in oil and gas, some of which can be transferred to assist in developments in the offshore wind sector. That knowledge, together with knowledge from the fishing industry about how to operate in the cruel seas around Scotland’s waters, is an essential ingredient for the success of the offshore industry. Lewis Macdonald’s point is well made.

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): Are the uncertainties and delays in the UK Government’s energy market reform impeding progress in our meeting the renewable energy targets?

Fergus Ewing: We are extremely concerned about what is, in effect, an investment hiatus, because there are simply no rules for the post-2017 future incentivisation of renewable energy, and of offshore wind in particular. We therefore urge the UK Government to end the uncertainty and to provide answers on EMR as quickly as possible, otherwise—the industry has warned—we risk leaking investment to Germany and France, and we risk jeopardising an industry that could contribute a great deal to Scotland and the rest of the UK.

A report by Cambridge Econometrics says that the success of offshore wind by 2030 could add nearly 1 per cent to United Kingdom gross domestic product. That is what is at stake. Therefore, we are working with the UK Government to end the uncertainty as quickly as possible.