Scheme to help small firms win offshore turbine work

SCOTTISH Enterprise will today unveil a scheme to help small companies grab a slice of the £7 billion offshore wind industry.

Chief executive Lena Wilson will tell delegates at the Scottish Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen that her agency has set aside £900,000 to send consultants into small businesses to assess how they can take part in the renewable energy boom through the supply chain.

Experts will visit up to 600 businesses offering up to two-day of free one-to-one support, looking at how companies can offer their products or services to the offshore wind sector.

Figures from Scottish Enterprise suggest 5,500 wind turbines will be erected off the UK coast in the next decade, creating some 28,000 jobs.

Niall Stuart, chief executive at trade body Scottish Renewables, said: “This is exactly what Scotland needs. We are already seeing businesses diversify into renewables from their base in more traditional forms of energy generation such as gas and coal but having this new scheme will make that transition an easier one to realise.”

Stuart Cameron, vice-president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a visiting professor at Strathclyde University, said: “This offer of free consultancy is welcomed to help Scottish SMEs.”