The renewables industry could support as many as 400,000 jobs by 2020, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has said.
Addressing the Scottish Renewables annual conference in Edinburgh yesterday, Mr Davey said investment in renewable energy was outpacing that in fossil fuels, having hit £3.3 trillion and growing at a rate of 3.7% a year.
And the success story of Scottish renewable energies remains set to continue.
“Some 11,000 jobs are already supported by the renewable energy industry in Scotland,” said Mr Davey.
“Over the last two years alone Scotland has seen announcements of more than £2.3 billion of investment in renewables, with the potential to support more than 4,500 extra jobs.
“Scotland already leads the UK in terms of installed capacity, and there are billions of pounds of further investment in the pipeline.”
Mr Davey said that companies both big and small have already provided huge benefits to communities throughout Scotland.
“The International Energy Agency foresees some $6.4 trillion of investment in renewables over the next two decades,” he added.
“So this is a global race,” Mr Davey said.
“Scotland is one of the energy hubs of the world and a powerhouse of the new renewable energy industry.”
He said the Government was creating a framework for investment in renewables and green growth.
“Energy is the largest producer of emissions,” said Mr Davey. “Much can be done through energy efficiency.”
The centre-piece now of the drive for green growth, he said, is the plan for electricity market reform that is passing through the Westminster Parliament.
“Our long-term vision is for a competitive market where low-carbon technologies, including renewables, participate on a level playing field,” he said.
Recognising a need for an increased level of certainty for shovel-ready projects, Mr Davey also said developers of renewable electricity projects will now be able to apply for support via the Final Investment Decision Enabling Programme, which will enable investors to make investment decisions this year.
“This should help construction on a number of projects to start sooner rather than later.
“Looking out to 2020, we have trebled support under the Levy Control Framework to £7.6bn, sending a strong, clear signal that there is plenty of funding for low-carbon investment.”
This will help increase the amount of electricity coming from renewables from 11% today to around 30% by 2020, as well as supporting new nuclear power and carbon capture and storage.
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