Highland and Islands poised as front runners in race to make green energy transition happen
Copper Account Director Sarah Fowler attended the Highlands and Islands Green Energy Conference, part of the Sustainable Scotland Green Series 2025 from The Scotsman, in Inverness. It’s fair to say that the Highlands and Islands is fully committed to driving Scotland’s green energy transition forward – sooner rather than later.
With a packed conference room, there was no shortage of conversation on the day, which was sponsored by SSEN Transmission, Fred.Olsen Renewables and Vattenfall, and that’s down to the sheer success and drive we’ve seen in the region to date.
£100 billion in investment
Take Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport as an example – the result of a powerful collective of public and private sector organisations which have joined forces to create a prosperous and sustainable future for the Highlands’ people, businesses and environment. The area has a strong desire to be front and centre of the energy transition; and rightly so given the sheer scale of experience, opportunities and talent available. So, it’s unsurprising that the scale of developments already planned for the area is huge – 251 to be exact with the potential to unlock £100 billion in investment, according to a report by HIE last month.
Among the key themes discussed were the much talked about strengthening of the grid, community benefit and green skills and education, with a need for Westminster and Holyrood to collectively address how a credible offer relating to retraining in green industries is achieved.
An unjust transition?
And on the same day as the conference, the headlines were awash with “Scotland on course for an “unjust” transition”, and the government being accused of having no plan in place for oil and gas workers who, most argue, should make up a significant proportion of the green energy workforce.
The Just Transition Commission report said: “Without urgent and ambitious action, investment and government leadership, Scotland’s offshore transition will not take place fairly, with harmful effects on workers, communities, employers and the regional economy … that could otherwise be avoided”. And this narrative extends further north too where there are communities, employers and economies grappling for their share of the prize as part of a fair and successful transition.
Highland transformation
Copper has a long history of working across the energy industry in Scotland and recently announced premier sponsorship of Highland CIC, which incorporates ‘Highland Renewables’. Its chair, Yvonne Crook, took part in the conference, highlighting the group’s work to establish the Highlands as a globally recognised leader in sustainability.
A study commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), in partnership with the Highlands and Islands Regional Economic Partnership (HIREP), has described the scale of opportunity for the region as “unprecedented” for the Highlands “and possibly even Scotland and much of the UK” with the potential “to far exceed previous transformational periods, including even the post-war development of the Highlands’ hydro potential and the main period of the oil and gas exploration era”.
The majority of these developments sit within renewable energy, including off and onshore wind, pumped storage hydro and marine energy. The conference speakers rightly addressed the challenges linked to such opportunities, including workforce skills and housing supply which have to be overcome, and quickly. Opportunities are plentiful for the Highlands and Islands; but if regional communities are to truly benefit in a sustainable way, there are various building blocks which need to be addressed.