Terry Murden: Fresh questions for Scotland’s renewables sector

THE renewables industry has been held up as the symbol of the new Scotland, a clean and infinite energy provider that will replace all those dirty and finite carbon resources that are no longer fashionable or affordable.

So yesterday’s revelation that Doosan Power Systems of Korea is to pull the plug on a proposed research centre in Renfrew is a cautionary note. Wind and wave may not be the answer to all our energy dreams after all.

Doosan’s decision will mean the £170 million investment and 1,700 jobs promised for Renfrew will not materialise. And to confirm that this is not simply one company’s lack of faith in green energy, the oil and gas firm Petrofac is hesitating over setting up a wind business and claims that up to half of the official targets set for offshore wind expansion will not happen.

These may still be regarded as isolated decisions in the overall scheme of things and the Scottish Government was at pains to defend its commitment to renewables, pointing to the many other projects that are going ahead.

But it doesn’t help its case that it failed to make public the fact that Doosan notified ministers of its decision in December. That smacks of a government in denial and prepared to push ahead regardless of the evidence presented to it.

However, the industry is reaching a stage of maturity that should ensure these announcements are seen as setbacks and disappointments rather than warnings that the game is up.

But investors are bound to be unnerved. An industry already heavily reliant on subsidies can expect to depend on government support a little while longer if there is continuing uncertainty about the viability of these technologies and their ability to provide long-term returns.

As such there needs to be a period of reflection and a review of the one-dimensional energy policy being pursued at Holyrood.

There have been plenty of urgings from the energy lobby itself for a broader-based strategy because few believe renewables can provide all our energy needs.

It must be hoped that Holyrood is sufficiently shaken by Doosan’s announcement that it is shaken out of its complacency.

Pensions pain starting to bite for employees

Pensions are too complex, over-regulated and unappealing to an increasing number of workers, according to the Institute of Directors. If there was ever a warning that more change has to come then this is it.

The industry has undergone huge change already in response to mis-selling scandals, poor returns and a loss of trust in the pensions providers. It’s a wonder they still continue to make massive profits if the numbers abandoning pensions for other forms of investment continue to rise.

They must be alarmed by the regular warnings that the public will no longer tolerate being sold products they do not understand and which they believe to represent poor value for money.

According to the IOD, more people are pumping their savings into individual savings accounts (Isas). Given the poor returns available on Isas it shows just how little faith there is in pensions to pay out a decent sum on retirement.

The pensions industry needs to take heed of this research and take action. Workers are baffled by pensions gobbledegook and deeply suspicious of the promises accompanying them.

To make matters worse, ordinary workers see executives of the big pensions companies being paid multi-million pound bonuses while their own retirement pots deteriorate in value and pay out a pittance on maturity.

Are Elop and Nokia at the end of the line?

time is running out for Stephen Elop to turn around Nokia’s fortunes. The former Microsoft executive joined the one-time Finnish master of the mobile universe two years ago but has been given until the end of this year to get it back on track.

Elop’s problem is that the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy devices are storming the smartphone market and industry analysts say that a massive investment in marketing is required to give Nokia’s Lumia a fighting chance.