250 jobs created at renewable energy company

Published on Wednesday 7 October 2009 15:02

A RENEWABLE energy engineering centre is to create 250 new jobs, it was announced today.

The 20 million centre will be set up in Glasgow by power giant Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE).

The Centre of Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy" (CEERE) will mastermind the engineering side of SSE's offshore and onshore wind farms across Europe.

The centre is being set up by SSE working with the University of Strathclyde, and the Scottish Government is providing a 2.8 million grant.

It will create around 250 skilled profession jobs and safeguard 70 more.

First Minister Alex Salmond, who today toured SSE's office in Glasgow, welcomed the development.

He said: "This is a significant commitment and investment by SSE in Glasgow and in Scotland, creating some 250 high quality jobs and safeguarding a further 70.

"This initiative positions Glasgow to be at the epicentre of a key strand of 21st century engineering, just as the city dominated the engineering ages of the past.

"The regional selective assistance that we are providing has helped secure a substantial economic boost for Glasgow and deliver a major development to strengthen Scotland's position as a global leader in low carbon energy."

The SSE chief executive Ian Marchant said his company had chosen Glasgow as the location for the centre after considering others in mainland Europe, Ireland and the UK.

He said: "Scotland's ambition to become a leader in renewable energy is well known and we are delighted to be making this investment in Scotland.

"We're very positive about the prospects for creating new jobs to harness Europe's renewable energy resources and the potential make a significant contribution to the achievement of Scotland's ambitions."