A dramatic shift in government policy is required if Scotland’s renewables sector is to have any future, it is claimed.
Willie Rennie, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, has demanded that crucial components for offshore and onshore windfarms are manufactured in Scotland to help keep jobs in the country.
“We were promised to be the Saudi Arabia of renewables yet we are now spending a considerable amount of energy on trying to save from collapse one of the major parts of the sector,” he said.
“We’ve got to have a massive change of government policy to make sure we don’t just have lots of offshore and onshore wind turbines and other forms of renewable energy, but that we’re actually part of producing and manufacturing these facilities.
“I thought the trade union leader Gary Smith got it right when he said there are parts coming from China, Holland and Germany all parked outside of Scotland with hardly anything being produced here.
“We’re going to have big windfarms off the Forth and we were promised as part of that generation there would be jobs here in Scotland to benefit from that growth.
“Are going to have that? That’s the big question today?
“We’ve got to have a change in government policy that ensures we exploit the potential of the renewables sector.”
