As the new Labour Government looks to get the ball rolling on Great British Energy, Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) have called for the firm to be based in the north-east of Scotland.
The chamber said that the publicly owned energy company “must be located in Aberdeen” in an open letter to Keir Starmer, Ed Miliband and Anas Sarwar.
AGCC is calling for local businesses to sign the letter and show support for GB Energy setting up shop in the Granite City, something it says there has been “overwhelming public support for”.
“GB Energy must be co-created with industry if it is to stand the best chance of success,” the letter penned by Russell Borthwick, chief executive of AGCC, outlines.
© PA“You have been clear that you want to work with the energy sector to ensure that GB Energy delivers effectively for the whole UK.
“That industry is largely based here in the North-east of Scotland. We have the largest cluster of energy supply chain companies anywhere in the UK, harbouring the largest concentration of subsea engineering capabilities anywhere in the world.”
The chamber points to Aberdeen’s close proximity to many of the wind farms that secured licences in the Scot Wind round as well as the Acorn carbon capture storage project which is receiving UK government funds under the Track 2 process.
In addition to this, the chamber sates: “Aberdeen will continue to be a major base for ongoing production in oil and gas throughout the transition.”
Highlands plea for GB Energy
The chamber letter follows another sent to energy secretary Ed Miliband by Inverness Chamber of Commerce (ICC) setting out the case for establishing GB Energy in the Highlands.
It was signed by business and civic leaders including ICC chief executive Colin Marr, Highland Council CEO Derek Brown, Highlands and Islands Enterprise CEO Stuart Black, University of the Highlands and Islands director Alison Wilson and Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF) CEO Calum MacPherson.
Their missive argued that while “other parts of Scotland may present competing proposals, they will be primarily based on current energy generation, not on the generation of the future”.
The Labour government is likely to shortlist four locations in Scotland for before confirming which will be the base for the firm which it expects will make the UK an “energy superpower”. It is thought Grangemouth, Glasgow and Clydeside are all vying to lure one of Labour’s most significant manifesto pledges.
GB Energy in Aberdeen to create job security
GB Energy has been the Labour party’s answer to criticism from the industry over plans to raise and extend the windfall tax and remove incentives and so-called “loopholes” for oil and gas firms.
The energy industry particularly in the north-east of Scotland has issued dire warnings on the impact these policies will have on jobs and investment.,
Following last week’s general election result, Mr Borthwick told Energy Voice: “We need the PM to deliver on his commitment to forge a new partnership with business to boost growth and to work with his government to ensure that Aberdeen and Grampian is in pole position to deliver an energy transition that secures investment, jobs and creates the opportunities everyone covets in the clean industries of the future.”
© Supplied by –The chamber is also calling for the new UK government to protect UK jobs with its proposed energy firm.
The letter explains that the UK oil and gas market is mature and that the country’s basin is in decline, therefore jobs from the fossil fuels industry must be safeguarded.
Borthwick writes: “Headquartering a state-backed energy company in the city can help to ensure that jobs in the sector are retained and created here.”
There is still some confusion around what GB Energy will become, however.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar described it as a “publicly owned energy generation company” while the incoming prime minister Kier Starmer said it would be an “investment vehicle, not an energy company”.
The Labour Party also suggested it would not be an energy retail company and that it would “generate power in its own right, as well as owning, managing and operating clean power projects alongside private firms”.
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