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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 14 August 2025
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Displaying 1071 contributions

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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

It would come from—

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

That will vary. I am happy to set out some of the timescales in more detail for the committee, in response to questions from Mr Doris, so that the committee can have confidence on the matter.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

Good morning, colleagues. As you will be aware, the Scottish Government is committed to a just transition by 2045. We are undertaking the necessary steps to reach that goal within the context of the recent budget, which, as the Deputy First Minister has said, is challenging in many respects. However, there are also many opportunities before us that we are looking to secure.

The projected economic benefits from Scotland’s offshore wind are substantial. The First Minister’s investor panel highlighted the sector as the single most important opportunity for attracting capital to Scotland and raising Scotland’s wider investment profile. It is possible that we could achieve the supply chain development statement’s forecast of £25 billion of investment across the Scottish supply chain through ScotWind projects alone. Our strategic investment in offshore wind will stimulate and support private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities that are critical to sectoral and wider economic growth. It will also support market certainty and help to create a highly productive and competitive economy, which will provide thousands of new jobs, embedding innovation and boosting skills.

Carbon capture and storage will play a critical role in supporting a just transition to net zero. Given our unrivalled access to vast storage potential in the North Sea and opportunities for us to repurpose existing oil and gas infrastructure and related skills and expertise, we have an economic opportunity to be at the centre of a European hub for carbon capture and storage technology.

Our “Hydrogen Action Plan” sets out our commitment to support Scotland to become a leading hydrogen nation. We continue to engage actively with the sector and supply chain companies, and we will work closely with the UK Government on the necessary policy and regulations. We will also continue to support hydrogen innovation through our hydrogen innovation scheme and the work on establishing the case for pipeline transportation of hydrogen from Scotland to Europe.

We have been consistently clear that securing a long-term, sustainable future for the Grangemouth industrial cluster is also of critical importance. We have committed to publishing a draft of the Grangemouth just transition plan this spring and have been working with the industry, the community and the public sector on that.

The energy transition fund supports the north-east of Scotland’s just transition away from reliance on oil and gas to renewables, and it supports four main projects: the energy transition zone, the Aberdeen hydrogen hub, net zero technology, the transition programme and the global underwater hub. The budget means that we will continue to support those projects.

Like the Deputy First Minister, I welcome the opportunity to meet the committee to discuss my area of responsibility within the budget before us in more detail.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

Obviously, fields will move at different paces and will come into the process at different points. There are a number of projects in the leasing round. They have to go through the process of having their grid positions allocated and they must go through the consenting regime. It is therefore difficult to pinpoint an exact timescale, particularly given that each one will move at a different pace, not least because some will be floating and some will be fixed sea-bottom developments.

However, we are certainly hoping that projects will happen as quickly as possible. We are allocating funding for supply chain development so that we can see things moving. We see some of it happening: the progress that has been made with Sumitomo Electric Industries is a public example, but there are many other examples. There are discussions that are commercially confidential at this stage, but we hope that we will also be able to bring forward other projects in this year.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

Yes—that is correct.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

Absolutely.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

Mr Macpherson has hit on a critical area of decision making that will come down the tracks this year. I am very pleased that the strike price that the UK Government has set answers the industry’s concerns. AR5 was a missed opportunity, particularly for offshore wind. We, along with the industry, impressed on the UK Government the need to ensure that it got the strike price right. I think that we have agreement that the UK Government has taken that issue very seriously and has responded accordingly, which I am very pleased about. I put on record once again that the UK Government has taken that approach.

The next challenge, as Mr Macpherson has set out, is the overall quantum that will be available in AR6. If we are to make up for what happened in AR5, it will be important for the quantum to be sufficient to allow progress to be made, particularly for ScotWind but also for some of the other technologies that we saw in AR5 as a result of offshore wind not being there. Those include marine energy projects, such as the wave and tidal energy projects that we will see coming through for the first time.

There is another element. There will be a difficult balancing act, because we must ensure that we are balancing the different interests fairly. We must ensure that we get a good price, while also encouraging the economic opportunity that comes from developing the supply chain, which means that non-price factors are part of the consideration of AR6. I hope to see continued engagement by UK ministers both with me and Gillian Martin, the energy minister, and at official level. We have a massive opportunity. From the perspective of the investor panel, ScotWind is the top opportunity for inward economic investment and investment of capital, but there are also other areas of marine energy. We must grasp the opportunities that are there, to ensure demonstrable benefits for our people.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

I bet.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

First, I re-emphasise the point that Mr Macpherson made about the importance of private capital in realising our renewables ambitions. Quite frankly, it will not be possible for us to achieve ScotWind or to develop a supply chain without private capital, which is why we are taking the recommendations of the investor panel so seriously. It is why we are coming forward with the green industrial strategy, because that will give potential investors clarity and focus on what our ambitions are. We have put up a big saltire internationally to say, “Come and invest here in Scotland—Scotland is open for business”. We need that private-public collaboration if we are to achieve what we want to achieve. We want to make sure that we are coming forward with investable propositions and that Scotland is a destination to do business in. That is why we are looking to bring about clarity as best we can with the documents that we will come forward with this year.

I cannot comment on a live application. It would be completely inappropriate for me to do so, as Mr Macpherson has alluded to, except to say that that process is on-going.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 23 January 2024

Neil Gray

Some funding for the pipeline of projects has come through the strategic investment model and some of that will feed in to the work of the green industrial strategy. From an energy generation perspective, there is the opportunity for the transmission infrastructure network to expand significantly. That is not just an economic opportunity but an energy necessity if we are to realise our climate ambitions through the opportunity of our renewable energy capability and the electrification of the country.

The resource for statutory bodies such as NatureScot and Marine Scotland is constantly under review and depends on their requirements. Discussions will be on-going with relevant ministers and cabinet secretaries about whether allocations are appropriate. We look ahead to pipelines of work to ensure that bodies have the capacity to respond in a timeous fashion.