Wind farm ‘ could bring £ 827m to economy’
● Scheme could generate 236 jobs for every year of operation – study
A controversial £ 2 billion wind farm could generate around £ 827 million for the Scottish economy, a study has found.
Analysis suggests that, over its 30- year lifetime, the Neart na Gao ithe(NnG) project could generate an economic impact equivalent to 0.6 percent of Scotland’ s gross domestic product in 2016.
The study also found it could support 13,900 “person years”of employment over its lifetime–the equivalent of around 2,000 Scottish jobs for every year of construction and 236 for every year of operation.
Developers Mainstream Renewable Power commissioned there search from the independent Fraser of Al lander Institute at the University of Strathclyde.
It follows the Royal Society forthe Protection of Birds’ application to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal against the development, which the conservation charity believes could lead to major decline sin the population of gannets, puffins and kittiwakes. The application is the latest stage in a legal battle that has been raging since the Scottish Government gave consent to four major wind farms in the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay in 2014.
Andy Kins ella, chief operating officer at Mainstream Renewable Power, said: “The results of the Fraser of Al lander Instit ute’ s study show the full extent of Nng’s impact on the Scottish economy for the first time.
“The study confirms that NNG will support the creation or retention of large n umbers of high skilled, high qualityjobs in Scotland during construction and its 25- year operational lifetime.
“The NnG Offshore Wind Farm Coalition, launched this month, has called on RS PB Scotland to abandon its legal action challenging this project and three others.”
He added: “I would ask RSPB Scotland to listen to this call and allow the project to move forward into construction.”
On making the Supreme Court application ,RSPB Scotlanddirector Anne MCCall said: “RSPB Scotland has not takenthis decision lightly. However, our concerns with the manner in which Scottish ministers took their decisions in 2014 remain undiminished.
“Additionally, the issues of the case and the recent Inner House judgment extend beyond simply the impacts of these developments on important seabird populations.
“Therefore, due to the implications of this latest decision for many aspects of our work, we felt we had no choice but to apply to the Supreme Court.
“We are hopeful that our application is successful and that we are granted l eave to appeal so these important issues of public interest can be considered in detail by the Supreme Court.”