Taking and wringing the neck out of Scotland’s green energy potential is top of the agenda for many modern-day politicians and business people.
But we tend to forget that Scotland has had a renewables industry for decades 70 years, in fact and there are lessons from the birth of hydro power which are relevant to this day.
I attended Scottish Renewables’ first Tom Johnston lecture recently and was struck by how little things had changed despite the passage of time.
Appointed wartime Secretary of State for Scotland by Winston Churchill, Johnston’s achievements include the founding of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, a body which continues to promote business to this day.
But his central contribution was the wartime establishment of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board in 1943 the predecessor of Perth’s ‘big six’ utility SSE.
His vision was to provide rural communities in Scotland with electricity for the first time, and his plan was to build dams in the hills and force water from rivers down through turbines to produce power.
He faced vocal and sustained opposition to his plans but refused to waver and, in equal measure, the realisation of his vision over the following decades both transformed the landscape and economy of Scotland.
Those original hydro schemes continue to play a major role in Scotland’s energy mix to this day, and few would now argue that Johnston got it wrong.
Fast forward to the present, and the latest generation of renewable power is causing as much controversy as hydro did in Johnston’s time.
Whether it be wind, wave, tidal, solar or energy produced through biomass burning, there is no end to the range of opinions out there.
Each and every one has its proponents and its detractors, but what is often sidelined by the feeding frenzy over specific proposals is that Scotland has an ever-increasing appetite for power and will need new sources of generation.
The Scottish Government is desperate for that demand to be fulfilled by a new indigenous renewables industry and, until they are politically knocked off their perch, they will continue to be pro-business in this regard.
The latest example was the consent last week given to Samsung Heavy Industries to test a demonstrator turbine just metres off the shore at Methil in Fife.
The turbine is one of the most powerful being built anywhere in the world. It will rise almost 200 metres and dominate the local skyline, no doubt upsetting and delighting local residents on a door-by-door basis.
The question is not whether Samsung’s turbine should be built that is redundant, as market forces demand it will be but whether it should be built here.
As he made plans to flood some of our great glens, Johnston faced the same conundrum. His answer was yes, and not only did he deliver a sustainable power source drawn upon by Scots for generations, he created jobs and wealth for thousands in the process.
New green energy power generation isn’t pie-in-the-sky; it is the here and now, and if Scotland does not grasp the industrial opportunity it brings then someone else will.
Progress must be made in a regulated and sensitive manner, but it must be made nonetheless.
There is a real chance to change Scotland’s economic future, and the prospects of a new generation of young people coming through.
Johnston would not have let that prize slip through his fingertips, and neither should we.
* It has been a period of transition for our local Chambers of Commerce.
With Fife having now recruited former East Dunbartonshire Enterprise Trust executive Andrew Thomson, and Dundee and Angus having appointed marketer Sandra Burke as its chief executive, the time has come for the business community in east central Scotland to stand up and show its mettle.
Each chamber will have its own set of grassroots priorities, but they must also ensure they have a strong common voice when it comes to pushing the local growth agenda.
Yes we need strong and decisive leadership from the two new CEOs, but they must also be willing to listen and be driven by the needs of their members.
We all must remember that sustained economic growth will not be achieved in Tayside and Fife in isolation.
So get involved in shaping the economic future of this region and support Mr Thomson and Ms Burke as they take our chambers into a new era.