Salmond: 'Urgent' need for access to £186m fossil levy

THE First Minister has said it is now "urgent" for the Treasury to release Scotland's £186 million Fossil Fuel Levy to fund 5,000 new jobs in the burgeoning renewables industry.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly called on Westminster to release the share of the money in the fund that comes from energy firms operating in Scotland and is held by industry regulator Ofgem.

Alex Salmond said the case for releasing the funds was underlined by the publication of Stage 2 of the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan yesterday.

The plan states more than 5,000 jobs could be created through the development of three regional offshore energy manufacturing sites and generate about 300m in income a year. However, investment of 223m from public and private sources is needed to help create the manufacturing hubs that would support the fabrication of offshore wind and marine energy components.

The plan, produced by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, has identified the three clusters in the Forth/Tay area, Moray Firth and West CoastIt states the sites need to be ready by 2013-14, with installation set to begin in 2014-15.