SNP ministers past and present have been criticised for using “a completely fictitious statistic” to boast about Scotland’s renewables potential dating back more than a decade.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly claimed that the country has 25 per cent of Europe’s offshore wind potential – a suggestion dating back as far as the Alex Salmond administration and repeated as recently as last week.
But research by the These Islands think tank has claimed that the true number is around 5% - with the Scottish Government analysis reportedly ignoring Scandanavia as part of Europe.
The Scottish Government had admitted the 25% figure was based on an out-of-date "estimated maximum potential of 25GW" and will now update the incorrect figure.
Scottish LibDems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton raised a point of order in Holyrood with the presiding officer – highlighting a “pattern of misinformation dating back over a decade”.
He said: “Over the years, this has been referenced countless times both inside and outside this parliament by SNP ministers and MSPs.
“In this chamber they include successive environment secretaries, first minister Alex Salmond and Deputy First Minister John Swinney, the current First Minister, the Constitution Secretary, Net Zero Secretary have all made the claim to other audiences.
"It was reheated just yesterday by Green environment minister Lorna Slater in the Edinburgh Evening News. It is a statistic that has now proven to be false – a bogus analysis or a mixture of reports dating all the way back to 1993 when the technology was in its infancy and using a definition of Europe that excluded renewable powerhouses like Sweden, Norway and Finland.
“It wasn’t the case that it was accurate in 2010, as a spokesperson claimed this week. It was never accurate.”
Mr Cole-Hamilton claimed that “civil servants had been privately warning against its use for at least two years”, adding they had warned “it has ‘never been properly sourced’ and that these figures have ‘recycled robotically without really checking them’.”
He said: “The true figure for Scotland’s share of offshore wind potential is thought to be around just five per cent. Yet still the 25% claim appeared in the Finance Secretary’s national strategy for economic transformation this March and again, in multiple times in the SNP-led debate on independence in the House of Commons last week from SNP leader Ian Blackford.”
“I can’t recall a comparable situation when a completely fictitious statistic has been relied on so often and so widely."
Mr Cole-Hamilton added: “This matters because the Scottish Government has put this claim at the heart of the debate around Scotland’s energy security, on independence and meeting our climate targets.
“I fully support the expansion of Scotland’s renewable sector and I desperately want to see Scotland fulfill our renewable potential. But the strong case for that isn’t helped when the figures used by the Scottish Government leave it open to charge of misleading and misrepresenting.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is fundamentally important to recognise Scotland’s huge renewable generation capabilities.
"ScotWind, the world’s largest floating offshore leasing round, represents a massive step forward in delivering an energy revolution with ambitions to deliver up to 27.6 Gigawatts of power - nearly triple our renewable energy generation currently in operation.
"In total this means that the potential pipeline of offshore wind in Scotland is over 40 Gigawatts of power. The 25% calculation was based on an estimated maximum potential of 25 Gigawatts.
“We recognise that changes in technology and use of marine space mean that this statistic now requires updating and will be undertaking work to update the figure. However, we are confident that Scotland remains at the forefront of the developing offshore wind industry in Europe.
“The validity of These Islands’ calculation is a matter for the organisation.”
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