The Scottish Conservatives have called for a moratorium on fracking to be lifted to help boost work for the North Sea oil and gas industry amid the decline in oil price.
The last lump of coal is to be burned at Longannet, bringing an end to more than a century of coal-fired power in Scotland.
Scotland would have had to raise taxes or cut spending if it was wrestling with its estimated £10 billion budget deficit as an independent country, an economic think tank has calculated.
Scotland’s ability to generate electricity from flowing water eclipses other parts of the UK, new research shows.
A majority of small Scottish firms expect business conditions to worsen, according to a quarterly report.
George Osborne has announced a package of measures worth £1billion to help the North Sea oil and gas industry.
A tidal project in the Scottish islands has exported power to the grid for the first time. The Shetland Tidal Array - which consists of three 100 kW turbines, with more planned in following phases - is one of the world’s first in-sea tidal arrays.
The ETI (Energy Technologies Institute) has launched a new project which will study the impact of removing brine from undersea stores which could be used to store carbon dioxide. The project will be carried out by Heriot-Watt University with £200,000 worth of funding.
Renewable energy developer Dulas has begun construction on two medium river hydro schemes in Central Scotland.
Renewables has been tipped as the energy source which the Scottish Government should look to prioritise in the future.
Scottish engineering firm Weir Group has warned 2016 would be "another challenging year" as it reported a substantial pretax loss in 201.
Almost 10,000 workers have now lost their jobs in the North Sea oil and gas sector, according to Energy Minister Fergus Ewing.
Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed Scotland would have been weeks away from a "financial calamity" if full fiscal devolution had been given to the country. Cameron said new funding arrangements for Scotland needed to be completed in a "fair and reasonable way" after the SNP asked why the UK Treasury was proposing plans that may cost Scotland £3billion.
As Scotland’s oil and gas sector faces the difficult road ahead, a refresh of the Industry Leadership Group (ILG) strategy gives us renewed hope and focus for the future.
Wind power provided almost half of Scotland’s entire energy needs last month, new research has shown.
Workers who face losing their jobs in the oil and gas sector will be helped to move into other employment in the energy industry and manufacturing through a new £12million fund announced by Scotland’s First Minister.
Scotland’s hydro power faces an agonising march into near-oblivion by the end of the decade, an industry boss warned yesterday. Mark Mathieson, chief executive of Green Highland Renewables (GHR) said the UK Government had failed to take account of evidence and missed out on broader benefits of hydro energy in its review of feed-in tariffs.
Scottish Labour have claimed the Scottish Energy Jobs Taskforce does not "even keep track" of whether any energy jobs have been saved since the global decline in oil price. The criticism comes after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon revealed the taskforce, which was set up last year by the Scottish Government, would be continuing indefinitely.
A £14 million fund is to be shared by local authorities to make homes, public buildings and businesses more energy efficient, Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil has announced. Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (Seep) will help improve warmth in buildings and homes, cut energy bills and work towards reaching climate-change targets.
Scottish small business confidence has fallen to its lowest level in three years amid fears the oil industry crisis has filtered down to local suppliers, according to an industry body.
A report has claimed the downturn in the oil and gas industry could be having a wider impact on the Scottish economy. The Scottish Chambers of Commerce said the effect of lower oil prices could be extending beyond businesses operating directly in the sector. The latest quarterly report received responses from 477 firms in Scotland.
It’s hard to believe that four years ago, I stepped into the role here at Step Change in Safety. Like my New Year’s resolutions, my hopes and the reality didn’t always align. Since day one, there have been many successes and Step Change’s strategic priorities have evolved. But, sadly, there have been tragic and stark reminders of just how much is still to be done.
Unions are planning a protest next month outside a conference in Brussels to discuss the problems being faced by energy-intensive industries, including steel. Thousands of jobs have been axed in the UK in recent months as steel firms struggle with high energy prices and cheap Chinese imports.
Scotland’s economy grew by just 0.1% in the third quarter of last year, new figures have revealed. Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the latest GDP data showed output had increased between July and September despite the “significant challenge” to key export markets. Over the year, Scottish GDP increased by 1.7% - but its growth was weaker than that for the UK as a whole, where increases of 0.4% and 2.1% were recorded over three and 12 months respectively.
There is little doubt that the ongoing period of low global prices poses significant challenges for the oil and gas sector and our thoughts remain with the workers, such as those facing redundancy at BP, who have been affected.