UP to £15 billion would be added to the Scottish economy through the Crown Estate Scotland seabed leasing process, it has been claimed.
And the ScotWind partnership said the success of their bids would enable a £100 million fund to directly invest into Scottish supply chain companies to support the development of their projects.
The renewable energy partnership – comprising SSE Renewables, Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation and Danish fund management company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) – said the funding will support their overall ambition to achieve spending of around 50% with Scottish suppliers in the lifetime of the projects.
They said the SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP supply chain fund will support Scottish businesses, including oil and gas companies, to enter the offshore wind sector, encourage the existing supply chain to establish new facilities in Scotland, upgrade Scottish port facilities to accommodate future offshore wind deployment, and support contractual security requirements.
READ MORE: Westminster taking wind out of renewables and will push prices up, new analysis finds
Paul Cooley, director of capital projects for SSE Renewables, said: “We are excited to announce this commitment which supports our assertion that the Scottish economy would benefit greatly from our partnership’s proposed offshore wind projects via ScotWind.
“As well as a projected £15bn benefit to the Scottish economy, we’re also keen to emphasise our commitment to Scotland’s supply chain by revealing that, if our projects are successful, we will launch a £100m supply chain fund to directly support Scottish businesses, including those from the oil and gas sector, to help them enter the offshore wind sector by investing in new equipment, plant and machinery, personnel, or training resources.
“The fund would also be designed to encourage the existing offshore wind supply chain to establish new facilities in Scotland and, where possible, the money could be used to upgrade Scottish port facilities to accommodate future offshore wind deployment.”
Hisafumi Manabe, president and CEO of Marubeni Offshore Wind Development Corporation, said: “We’ve been working closely with a number of existing offshore wind supply chain companies, including those in Asia, to explore the potential to establish new facilities in Scotland, creating local job opportunities, and economic benefits for those communities.
“The fund will be used to support the supply chain needs of each of our ScotWind projects, and its impact will be further enhanced by considering areas which offer a high potential for the export of services and products worldwide”.
CIP partner, Michael Hannibal, added: “Our partnership is fully committed to the UK and Scotland’s future supply chain and the green recovery and that is why £500,000 of this proposed fund has already been earmarked to help 16 to 24-year-olds enter the industry and help the supply chain bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This announcement exemplifies the benefit of our consortiums’ local knowledge and global expertise which gives us the credibility and capability to deliver for Scotland.”
Detailed mechanics of the deployment and management of the £100m supply chain fund will be set out by the SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP consortium following the conclusion of the Crown Estate Scotland leasing process.
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