Scottish renewables firms failed by lack of investment, MSPS told
A d e c a d e s - l o n g f a i l u r e t o invest has left Scotland and the UK struggling to compete with other nations for contracts to build turbines and equipment for offshore wind farms, MSPS have been told.
I n d u s t r y b o d y S c o t t i s h Renewables told Holyrood's E c o n omy, E n e rg y a n d Fa i r Work Committee there has been a "fundamental failure of industrial strategy at government level for many decades".
Nick Sharpe, the organisation's director of communications and strategy, said investments in manufacturing and ports capacity "simply weren't made", leaving companies in Scotland at a disadvantage.
Meanwhile, EDG Renewables UK chief executive officer Matthieu Hue said the chances of Bifab building eight jackets for wind turbines for the upcoming Neart Na Gaoithe (NNG) wind farm are now "very, very slim".
He said EDF has "worked very hard" for these to be be manufactured at Bifab, which has yards in Burntisland and Methil in Fife, as well as one on Lewis.
But he told MSPS: "Unfortunately, Bifab has not been able to follow through and provide the guarantee it needs to get on and sign the contract. Now we're in the situation where the wind farm needs the jackets to be manufactured somewhere and at the moment, the chances of these eight jackets being manufactured at Bifab are very very, slim indeed."
Mr Hue added: "We're running out of time. We are in an unfor tunate position where having worked extremely hard to make it possible, it is looking unlikely that Bifab will manufacture these eight jackets."
Mr Sharpe explained there are "many reasons" why companies are going elsewhere for the work to be carried out.
He said: "Denmark built its first offshore wind farm, the first in the world, in 1991. Europe has moved since then to invest in manufacturing capacity and in ports capacity when the UK hasn't - and that really is a fundamental failure of industrial strategy.
"We're talking here about very large, very complex pieces of equipment that have been produced to a very high standard and, speaking to some of our members ahead of this session today, we talked about facilities in Scotland and how they compare with facilities in the rest of the world, and the phrase 'we're not comparing apples and apples' came up. We're talking about a completely different shift in size and capacity."