GMB Scotland Media Statement: Neart na Gaoithe Project

For immediate release: Thursday 28 November 2019

Scotland’s share of £2 billion offshore wind project “doesn’t look good enough”

Responding to media reports this morning (Thursday 28 November) that BiFab is set to be awarded a contract for the manufacture of around 15 per cent of the jackets on the £2 billion Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind project, GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said:

“The yards in Fife have been lying almost empty for 18 months so something is better than nothing, but it’s hardly the green jobs revolution.

“The overwhelming majority of a contract based just ten miles from the Fife coast will be delivered over 7,000 miles away in Indonesia. If our politicians can’t see the problem in that then we’ve got no chance of building a meaningful renewables manufacturing sector.

“It’s also troubling to hear EDF claim Scotland doesn’t have the sufficient skills and contractors to build for all aspects of offshore wind construction. What has been happening in the twelve years since we were promised the Saudi Arabia of renewables?

“We need detail. What will be our economic share of the total project value? How many jobs will be supported and for how long? What will this mean for the Arnish yard where redundancies have been steady since the wind down of the Moray East contract?

“Based on this morning's reports, it doesn’t look good enough.”  

ENDS

Contact: Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.