Scotland’s energy opportunity: Energy Minister's speech

Thank you, Presiding Officer, it is a pleasure to speak about Scotland’s energy wealth and the opportunities it brings for Scotland – and I’d like to move the motion in my name.

Deputy Presiding Officer, it has been a busy summer getting to grip with my portfolios. Over the past few weeks, I have engaged with colleagues across the energy sector in every part of Scotland. I have been grateful to everyone who has taken time to talk to me about the associated challenges and opportunities.

So let me first of all put on the record my thanks to those businesses and other stakeholders.

The message that I have received has been clear – that the energy sector, as a whole, is delivering the transformation we need and that Scotland is well placed with decades of experience, skills, expertise, infrastructure and the other necessary ingredients that place us at a competitive advantage.

Now there’s no question that there are significant challenges, and no doubt we will discuss some of those today. However, it has been good to hear about the transformation that is being delivered now and hearing the message that Scotland is a good place to invest and a good place to do business.

Can I also, in the spirit of collegiality, take the opportunity to thank colleagues from across this Chamber who have engaged with me. Debate and disagreement are at the heart of a good democracy and better decision-making, but so is consensus and the sharing of ideas, and I am grateful for colleagues who have done that with me.

I’d also like to put on the record my thanks to the UK Government colleagues for engaging with me, including Minister Shanks. I will always seek to engage in a constructive way, where possible, and people working in the sector would expect no less from us.

In that spirit, and I’ll come onto other amendments, I will be accepting the Labour amendment in Daniel Johnson’s name today albeit with the conditions that we still have significant concerns around UK Government policies on issues such as grid, transmission charging, EU alignment, energy bills for instance, and of course we are still awaiting the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP).

Deputy Presiding Officer, in terms of the North Sea, North Sea oil and gas has and continues to play a vital role in our energy system and the security mix. It has delivered jobs in the North East and allowed us to develop decades-long experience and expertise in energy production, including those developed in an offshore environment.

But the North Sea is a maturing basin and the challenge before us is managing the energy transition in a way that’s fair and responsible, ensuring that skills, talent and expertise built up over those decades are carried forward.

There’s an opportunity to secure jobs, investment and economic growth for communities the length and breadth of Scotland; supporting energy security not just in Scotland but across Europe, where it is an increasing concern amongst our European partners.

But crucially, our renewables potential is globally recognised, and we are seeing large scale investment which matches the scale of this potential – and the transition is not something that’s taking place in the future, it is taking place right now.

Now we already host some of the world's largest operational floating offshore wind farms, Hywind Scotland and Kincardine, and Green Volt is expected to become the world’s largest floating wind farm when completed.

We have world-class facilities already supporting the global scale build-out of offshore wind. Kishorn Port has one of Europe’s largest dry docks, and is being further expanded to support the next generation of offshore energy. Montrose Port is also set to become one of the largest offshore wind operations and maintenance hubs.

The Port of Leith is playing a key role in the construction of the 1.1 GW Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm – and that can be seen as we all know across Edinburgh and Fife.

Over the summer I visited Sumitomo Electric's £350 million high-voltage subsea cable manufacturing facility at Nigg – it is the first of its kind in the UK, strengthening domestic supply chains for offshore wind whilst creating hundreds of well-paid jobs.

These are not isolated examples and demonstrate that the energy transition is already creating industrial opportunities in Scotland.

In terms of skills and jobs, the Scottish Government is proactively supporting our North Sea workers to carry their expertise and experience into renewable energy, including through the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund.

Our Offshore Wind Skills Programme is also backed by up to £3.85 million of investment in targeted education, training and workforce-transition interventions. So far, six projects have been approved with a combined value of £2.5 million.

This energy transition offers a scale of opportunity like no other, and it is delivering tens of thousands of jobs.

Don’t just take my word for it. A 2026 CBI report indicates that the net zero economy in Scotland already supports over 105,000 jobs and generates £10.2 billion in economic value, with activity spanning energy, manufacturing, engineering and professional services.

And around 3,000 businesses that are already part of the net zero economy.

But if we are to make the most of this opportunity, we must also all learn the lessons of the past. Scotland generated enormous wealth from oil and gas for the UK Treasury but we didn’t see the long term benefit.

That was a structural failing over the past half century of energy policy.

The UK was one of the only states on Earth to discover oil and gas but not establish some kind of Futures Fund to ensure future generations benefit from what is a finite resource, and I know that is something that others will acknowledge.

We have to learn from that – and can I also acknowledge the Greens’ motion today about the energy transition that must drive community wealth and I also look forward to supporting that amendment today as well.

I want to also acknowledge the Liberal Democrat motion today on community benefits and see how we can make the most of that, and again the spirit of collegiality will accept it but I am content to work with Liberal Democrats and colleagues on how we can deliver that and make the most of it.

As well as community benefit the transition must create jobs in ports and coastal communities, opportunities for young people, contracts for Scottish businesses, stronger local economies.  

On the community benefits that are already in place – SSEN Transmission supporting the delivery of 1,000 new homes across the north of Scotland is an example of the long-term impact. 

During this parliamentary session, we will establish a ScotWind wealth fund. This is a sensible step we can take to ensure the benefits of the renewable energy transition create long-term benefit for future generations.  

I would also urge the UK Government to learn from the failures of the past and look at how, even at this stage, a Futures Fund can be established while the Treasury continues to make billions from our energy sector, not least from the Energy Profits Levy that’s been so damaging to the sector.

But we know it’s not just about Westminster and the government is taking action as well. The Scottish Government will deploy all of our devolved powers to ensure projects are delivered as quickly as possible, creating sustainable opportunities.

In offshore wind alone, we have already unlocked almost £900 million of offshore wind investment – putting our own investment of over £150 million to work, crowding in £70 million from UK public finance institutions and leveraging up to £675 million in private investment into projects with the potential to support 5,000 jobs.

We are demonstrating that public and private sectors in Scotland can work together at pace to deliver high-quality green jobs and drive growth.

Now, in my last debate in this Parliament, we voted for energy policy to be devolved. That is because industry is actively telling us what the barriers are to renewables deployment. Without full devolution, we need Westminster to take action.

I have been clear that a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan that fully reflects Scotland’s renewable energy pipeline, including our global leadership in floating offshore wind.

Transmission charging, we want to get rid of that so Scottish projects do not continue to be unfairly penalised. And it means a more stable and predictable Contracts for Difference regime – and I underline that again to Labour colleagues in terms of their own motion.

We also need to see greater investment and delivery from the UK Government in supply chains, manufacturing capability, ports, infrastructure, and crucially, grid.

Scotland is ready and delivering. Industry is ready and delivering. The projects are ready and delivering. What is needed now is for the UK Government to match Scotland's ambition with action.

The energy transition is not far off, it is happening now. I am determined to continue to build on the work that has been done to deliver on that during this parliamentary session.

But this opportunity is bigger than any one government, any one sector or any one parliamentary term. We will get further with the support and collaboration of Parliament, and we call on everyone in the Chamber to work with us.

No other economic opportunity currently available to Scotland promises the scale of jobs and growth for people and local communities as the energy transition.

So again can I thank colleagues across industry, Scottish communities and here in Parliament for their collegiality and willingness to work together.

This is Scotland's opportunity, and I hope we can seize it together.