Renewable figures

I read with interest the comments made by your reader – that no-one ever checks to see how much employment and economic gain materialises from the renewables industry in Scotland (Letters, 15 February). In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

Only last month Scottish Renewables, the trade body for the renewable energy sector in Scotland, published the results of independent research into employment in the renewable energy sector in Scotland. The results of this research showed there are currently more than 11,500 jobs in the sector across the country.

Based on installed capacity figures provided by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Scottish Renewables is also able to estimate that the renewables sector invested more than £900 million in Scotland in the first three quarters of 2013, which comes on top of the 
£1.5 billion invested in 2012.

Further, generation figures released by DECC last December showed that renewables generation met the equivalent of more than 40 per cent of Scotland’s electricity needs in 2012, putting renewables on track to become Scotland’s main source of power in the next couple of years.

Therefore, far from being optimistic forecasts about the future, these figures refer to real jobs, significant levels of investment and a vital source of clean power, all of which make a major contribution to communities across Scotland right now.

Joss Blamire

Scottish Renewables

Bath Street

Glasgow