This week my friend, who has worked for more than a decade for one of the world’s largest offshore drilling contractors, was notified by phone that he was being made redundant. As it turns out, so were most of his colleagues.
Offshore workers and their families are facing uncertain times. Around 150,000 in the north-east of Scotland depend on the industry for their jobs.
The oil and gas industry has seen major cuts in recent months due to the drop in the price of a barrel of crude oil. While demand remains strong, and Scottish companies are continuing to sign overseas deals, productivity has fallen rapidly.
Combined with years of mismanagement of oil and gas fiscal policy by the UK Government, jobs are under threat.
That’s why it is madness that, at a time when an important part of our energy sector is challenged, the Tory Government has delivered a hammer blow by announcing its intention to close the Renewables Obligation for onshore wind from April 2016.
This will seriously damage the Scottish renewables sector, threatening the 5,400 onshore wind sector jobs in Scotland and putting £3 billion pounds of investment at risk. It’s even more nonsensical as onshore wind stands on the verge of being able to compete on a purely commercial basis.
An Energy Voice article by experts Professor Peter Strachan of Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen University’s Dr David Toke said: “Very much on track to meet world-leading 2020 climate change and renewable energy targets, Scotland will be the country worst affected by the early closure of the RO.
“The future prospects for the onshore wind industry across the UK and particularly in Scotland appear dire.”
If the Tories continue on this path, they will create instability not just in onshore wind but across the renewables industry, threaten jobs and our ability to meet European climate change and renewable energy targets. They also risk increasing consumer bills given onshore wind is the cheapest form of renewable electricity we can deploy at scale.
And for what? Short-term political gain.