Exclusive:Labour Government urged to stop energy firm which promised 1,000 Scots jobs from quitting UK
Labour MP Kirsteen Sullivan has urged Labour ministers to “secure jobs” at Invinity Energy Systems - which has sites in Motherwell and Bathgate.
The UK Government has been urged to stop an energy firm from quitting the UK after it lost out to a Chinese firm on a government support scheme.
Scottish Labour MP Kirsteen Sullivan has urged her own party’s ministers to “secure jobs” at Invinity Energy Systems - which has sites in Motherwell and Bathgate.
The British company has threatened to quit the UK after just one vanadium flow battery project was selected for Ofgem’s long-duration energy storage scheme.
Invinity had hoped to create up to 1,000 jobs in the central belt by expanding its manufacturing operations.
Ms Sullivan said the UK Government should “Back British” when it comes to energy infrastructure, like it has pledged to do on defence.
The Bathgate and Linlithgow MP said: “From the start of his premiership, Andy Burnham has been abundantly clear he wants to see greater investment into British industry, manufacturing and providing skilled jobs for the workforce.
“We all understand this in the context of defence, I’d like to see this progressed at pace for energy infrastructure, as we all know energy security is national security. This is how I see the situation with Invinity in Bathgate.
“We need to be ambitious for clean power and new industries in every community across the country. When we invest in the energy transition, we should be looking wherever possible to make sure British workers, and British manufacturers see the benefit.
“But we must all pull in the same direction. We have innovative technology and it’s manufactured here in Scotland, supporting skilled green jobs in Bathgate with the potential to bring significant further investment and employment to the Central Belt.
“The National Wealth Fund has backed the company with £25 million of public investment, but recent news demonstrates we must all sing from the same hymn sheet. To achieve the best outcomes for our national and local economies, government, regulators, industry and workers must all pull in the same direction.
“There are around 70 existing green manufacturing jobs at Invinity, with many people who have already transitioned from oil and gas. There is the potential for hundreds – if not thousands – more jobs. For communities like Bathgate, and for workers across the Central Belt including those affected by closures at Grangemouth, this is exactly what green reindustrialisation should mean in practice.
“I will continue making that case to ministers and working with the Government to secure these jobs, unlock future investment and make sure Scotland’s communities benefit directly from Britain’s transition to clean energy.”
Invinity makes vanadium flow batteries, which can store electricity for the grid. This could be particularly useful for storing wind energy overnight for the public to use the next day.
The shortlist for the cap and floor scheme favoured lithium-ion batteries, which are usually sourced from China.
A cap and floor scheme means developers have a guaranteed minimum income, with a limit on revenues.
Invinity has warned that securing investment without the scheme would be difficult.
The firm received £25 million from the taxpayer owned National Wealth Fund to develop technology. But it could be left without enough domestic orders to expand its operations.
A DESNZ spokesperson said: “The clean energy transition is a reindustrialising force for communities, creating 400,000 jobs and boosting British supply chains, while cutting our reliance on global fossil fuel markets.
“We are backing Ofgem’s scheme to roll out a new generation of pumped hydro storage and state-of-the-art batteries – cutting waste, lowering bills and strengthening our energy security.”
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