A MINISTERIAL summit is to be held in the New Year following concerns over what the union Unite described as a “renewables scandal” which has increasingly placing Scotland’s green energy revolution offshore.
Unite, one of the country’s biggest unions, called for steps to regain control of the sector earlier this month because of a “smorgasbord” of multinational interests now “calling the shots” in the wind farms sector in Scotland.
It comes as union leaders meet the finance secretary Derek Mackay today (Tuesday) following concerns that the first 22 jobs at the beleaguered CS Wind factory near Campbeltown in Argyll have gone – with threats to a further 51 out of a workforce of 94 in what is the UK’s only facility for manufacturing wind towers.
The Herald revealed last month how Scotland had missed out on hundreds of millions of pounds of work in the creation of one one of the country’s biggest offshore wind farms, the £2 billion Neart Na Gaoithe (NnG), to overseas firms
In 2010, a Scottish Government report stated the offshore wind sector alone offered the potential for 28,000 direct jobs and a further 20,000 jobs in related industries, as well as £7.1bn investment in Scotland by 2020.
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Now Mr Mackay has confirmed that he intends to chair an offshore wind supply chain summit in the New Year following concerns from Unite about the “fantasy” of the so-called green jobs revolution.
“This summit is not just an opportunity for us to showcase the progress made since the previous summit in May, it is also a chance for CS Wind UK, BiFab, and others to receive the full attention of the sector as we continue to map out a sustainable and prosperous way forward for the indigenous supply chain,” said Mr Mackay in a letter.
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