The UK Government must use the subsidy bill mentioned in the Queen’s Speech to link subsidies for wind farms to using the UK supply chain to create 30,000 new jobs, GMB Scotland has urged.
In response to the Queen’s Speech Subsidy Control Bill, GMB Scotland said it will lead a “concerted campaign” in coastal and industrial areas for government to link public subsidies for offshore wind farms to using a UK supply chain.
The union said there is not enough steel fabrication capacity to build 8000 offshore wind turbines needed to achieve the UK’s 2050 net zero target, but linking subsidies and a Renewables Development Authority will speed up development.
In a report this week GMB Scotland identified the areas in the UK with access to the sea and with steel fabrication skills to build the 8000 wind turbines.
The report identified several areas with existing steel fabrication skills and/or access to the sea that a new Renewables Development Authority consider.
They include Clydeside, Western Isles, Dundee, Fife, Tyneside, Wearside, Teesside, Humberside, King’s Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Felixstowe, Harwich, Medway, Portsmouth, Southampton, Weymouth, Plymouth, Falmouth, Appledore, Avonside, Milford Haven, Pembroke, Anglesey, Merseyside, Barrow and Belfast.
GMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith said: “The Subsidy Control Bill should link the payment of subsidies to wind farm operators to them using a UK based steel fabrication supply chain to develop 30,000 highly skilled jobs in areas that badly need them.
“There is an urgent need for concerted campaign to get this linkage established in the Subsidy Control Bill. Our members in the ex BiFab yards in Fife and Western Isles will lead it.
“The UK Government must tie subsidies for offshore wind projects to domestic job creation and supply chain investment, ensuring the tens of thousands of steel fabrication jobs needed to manufacture thousands of giant wind turbines are delivered in Britain and not Asia.”