Scotland’s largest offshore wind conference and exhibition is to take place in Aberdeen this week.
The two-day event brings together 400 business leaders in oil and gas and renewable energy from across the UK and Europe. The show at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre is organised by Scottish Renewables and Scottish Enterprise.
Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond will give the opening address tomorrow.
Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: “This will be the largest ever offshore wind event in Scotland and we hope this will be the latest stage of ongoing work where expertise we have garnered through many years of the oil and gas industry in the north-east can now be transferred to the offshore renewable industry.
“Our offshore renewable sector is developing fast, but lessons from oil and gas will play a major part in achieving our ambitions to build a low carbon economy around alternative sources of energy.
“Companies like Petrofac, Wood Group, Subsea 7 and Technip are already winning business in renewables and there are big opportunities for other parts of the offshore engineering sector. The potential for 28,000 direct jobs from the offshore wind industry means it is vital to get this right for Scotland’s economy and environment.”
Adrian Gillespie, director of energy and low carbon technologies at Scottish Enterprise, said: “The offshore wind industry offers huge opportunities for Scotland and this event is a great way of bringing businesses together to hear first hand the benefits of diversifying and expanding into this rapidly-developing market.”
Mr Salmond said: “The Scottish Government is committed to the development of a successful and sustainable offshore wind industry in Scotland. Offshore wind offers huge economic rewards to Scotland with an expected £30billion of investment planned over the next 10 years.”
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