Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF) has forecast the initiative will lead to the creation of more than 10,000 jobs in the Scottish Highlands and a further 6000 across the UK.
The organisation has also predicted over £3bn of fresh investment will be attracted as Green Freeport status helps realise the area’s potential to become a European hub for the development of the offshore wind industry and associated renewable energy technologies.
ICFGF chief executive Calum MacPherson said the figures demonstrated the “huge opportunity” the initiative presented to address the challenge of working age depopulation in the Highlands and to accelerate economic growth and innovation, as well as growing and decarbonising the offshore energy industry in the UK.
ICFGF was established as a company earlier this year, following the announcement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in January that Inverness and the Cromarty Firth would be the location of one of two Green Freeports in Scotland.
The company’s Outline Business Case for the development of the Green Freeport sets out details of locations totalling around 550 hectares and owned by 12 landowners, which would become “tax sites,” where preferential tax and customs rules apply.
MacPherson said, in total, the land, which include areas on the shores of the Cromarty Firth, in the Highland capital and at Ardersier, amounted to the “largest green energy development site in the UK”.
Job creation figures were calculated by independent specialists, who interviewed landowners and potential investors for a detailed economic impact study, which forms a key part of the Outline Business Case.
They forecast that, if tax site designation is granted for the minimum five years available, their development will lead to the creation of 10,250 new jobs in the Highlands over the next 25 years and a total of 16,500 across the UK.
MacPherson said: “Following the ScotWind leasing round announcement last year, 20 offshore wind developments, representing a combined investment of almost £30bn, are currently being planned, with the majority of them close to our region.
“Green Freeport status for the area, which has been supported from the outset by the green energy industry, presents us with the ability to maximise the lasting benefits to the Highlands, Scotland and the UK from that unprecedented opportunity.
“The latest Census figures once again underline the alarming decline in the working age population of the Highlands.
“We now have a huge opportunity through the Green Freeport initiative to address that issue, creating not just jobs, but sustainable careers that will benefit the area for many years to come.”
ICFGF is backed by the Port of Cromarty Firth, Global Energy Group, Port of Inverness and Ardersier Port owners, Haventus, alongside the Highland Council, UHI and more than 30 regional, national and international businesses, public sector organisations and academic bodies.