Dundee’s fledgling renewables sector has been given a major boost by being declared as one of Scotland’s new enterprise areas.
Three other enterprise areas covering the life sciences, the green energy sector in the north of Scotland and general manufacturing and growth industries were also declared as part of the announcement but none of those will operate in Tayside or Fife.
Mr Swinney said he hoped the east and north low-carbon/renewables enterprise areas which will come on stream in April would further open the door to a new multi-billion pound industry.
He said £750 million of new green electricity projects started generating power in 2011 and there was a further pipeline of work with an estimated value of £46 billion.
”We have worked closely with our enterprise agencies to select sites which can exploit opportunities in growth sectors,” said Mr Swinney. ”In many cases, these will help create jobs in areas of Scotland that are facing challenging economic conditions. They represent the strategic locations in our key sectors with clear, achievable opportunities for development in the short term.
”We are taking this innovative sectoral approach as it will make better use of resources and target investment where it will be most effective. It will also allow us to build on the momentum that Scotland has been generating in life sciences, renewables and the creative sector as well as promote partnership working.”
Scottish Enterprise operations director Jim McFarlane said: ”The new enterprise area programme is great news for Scotland and will be key to encouraging greater business growth and investment.
”We particularly welcome the focus on manufacturing and anticipate that all the designated areas will offer significant potential to stimulate and deliver new jobs in some of Scotland’s leading industry sectors such as renewable energy, life sciences and creative industries.
”Enterprise area status will further enhance each location’s offering and help give a competitive edge in today’s current challenging investment environment.”
Finance Secretary John Swinney confirmed on Tuesday that the twin ports at Dundee and Leith which are both owned and operated by Forth Ports were being awarded the status under the new Renewable Energy Enterprise East Area umbrella.
The Scottish Government said the incentives available under the new scheme would depend on the specific site involved, but will include significant tax reliefs for companies looking to locate in Scotland and a streamlining of the planning process.
Councillor Ken Guild, the leader of Dundee City Council and the chairman of the Dundee Renewables group, said the new designation could help kickstart the renewables industry locally.
He said Dundee which had previously been identified as a key green energy site within the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan had specifically lobbied for assistance for the development of an offshore wind base rather than dilute the city’s pitch by also looking for incentives for other more mature business sectors.
The city has, therefore, not been included in the life sciences enterprise area that was also announced, despite the strength of the sector surrounding Dundee University.
Mr Guild said the new designation for the port was exactly what they city had hoped for.
He said: ”We concentrated our efforts on getting an enterprise zone specifically for renewables rather than taking a scattergun approach. In an enterprise area, companies are given incentives to move into that area so it will be easier for Dundee to attract the major players. This should give an added impetus to decisions to come to Dundee.”
It is hoped the dock’s new status will encourage companies such as utilities giant SSE to progress plans to make Dundee a key focus of their North Sea renewables plans. The Perth-based company signed a memorandum of understanding with Dundee City Council, Forth Ports and Scottish Enterprise to explore options for a new manufacturing plant to be established at Dundee Port to service the offshore wind sector.
Any such development would create hundreds of jobs directly and in the associated supply chain.
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