A MINISTERIAL summit is to be held in the New Year following concerns over what the union Unite described as a "renewables scandal” which has increasingly placing Scotland’s green energy revolution offshore.
Unite, one of the country’s biggest unions, called for steps to regain control of the sector earlier this month because of a “smorgasbord” of multinational interests now “calling the shots” in the wind farms sector in Scotland.
It comes as union leaders meet the energy minister Paul Wheelhouse today (Tuesday) following concerns that the first 22 jobs at the beleaguered CS Wind factory near Campbeltown in Argyll have gone - with threats to a further 51 out of a workforce of 94 in what is the UK's only facility for manufacturing wind towers.
The Herald revealed last month how Scotland had missed out on hundreds of millions of pounds of work in the creation of one one of the country's biggest offshore wind farms, the £2 billion Neart Na Gaoithe (NnG), to overseas firms.
READ MORE: Scotland left with 'scraps off table' in £2bn wind farm boom
In 2010, a Scottish Government report stated the offshore wind sector alone offered the potential for 28,000 direct jobs and a further 20,000 jobs in related industries, as well as £7.1bn investment in Scotland by 2020.
Now Mr Mackay has confirmed that he intends to chair an offshore wind supply chain summit in the New Year following concerns from Unite about the "fantasy" of the so-called green jobs revolution.
"This summit is not just an opportunity for us to showcase the progress made since the previous summit in May, it is also a chance for CS Wind UK, BiFab, and others to receive the full attention of the sector as we continue to map out a sustainable and prosperous way forward for the indigenous supply chain," said Mr Mackay in a letter.
A circular message from CS Wind earlier this month showed that hopes of preventing the axing of 80% of the staff remain slim, while it also confirms it has lost vital work on a Scottish wind farm.
The factory, bought over by the South Korea-based firm in 2016, has announced it will cut up to three-quarters of its workforce, despite recording pre-tax profits of £7.1 million last year.
READ MORE: Why it is feared Scotland's wind power economic boom is hot air
It is believed that a deal for an order for work on the giant Hornsea 2 wind farm project in the southern North sea being decided by Danish wind firm Orsted is crucial to whether the factory can survive in any way.
It is understood that Canadian-owned Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab), which builds large-scale plant for the oil industry as well as platforms for offshore wind turbines and tidal generators and has yards in Arnish and Fife lost out on a 'lifeline" contract to build steel foundations jackets for the NnG-project run by French state energy giant EDF.
It is proposed a minimum of eight of 54 of the jackets which anchor the turbines to the seabed will be built in Scotland with the rest being constructed in south east Asia.
Scotland also lost further important NnG project work, worth hundreds of millions of pounds to England, Germany, Finland and France.
Pat Rafferty, Unite Scottish secretary said: "We are getting to an extremely critical juncture in the future of CS Wind. Unite will meet with Derek Mackay to press the case for assistance and support for the workforce. A decision on the Hornsea 2 project is likely to take place over the next two weeks and it’s essential that this contract is secured by CS Wind or in all likelihood the factory will have no future.”
“Unite welcomes the fact that the Cabinet Secretary has committed to reconvening an offshore wind supply chain summit in the New Year. However, at this juncture there remains no clarity on how much work will go to BiFab’s yards in Fife and no clarity on how much work, if any, will go to the Arnish yard from EDF’s recent announcement on the NnG project.
READ MORE: First Minister intervention plea as jobs go at CS Wind
"Therefore, it’s vital that meaningful progress is made at this meeting because we cannot stress enough that Scotland is in danger of completely offshoring the manufacturing of its renewables sector. Billions of pounds, and tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs are being lost to the Scottish economy which is simply not good enough."
In his letter, Mr Mackay said he was "deeply saddened" to hear about CS Wind redundancies saying "the potential loss" of the only turbine tower manufacturer in Scotland, will be a "severe setback to not only the local community but also the wider Scottish offshore wind sector".
He added: "Ministers and officials have been engaged in sustained dialogue with the management team at CS Wind UK and will continue to do everything in our power to prevent job losses at the facility, exploring every possible route to minimise further redundancies."
It emerged last month that the Scottish Government’s economic and community development agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), moved three years ago to offload the taxpayer’s 19 per cent stake in Argyll firm Wind Towers (Scotland) – which owns the UK’s only facility for manufacturing wind towers – to South Korean-based CS Wind, which took over operations. CS Wind papers seen by The Herald showed that a £461,920 taxpayer-funded loan from HIE was also waived.
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