Economic Impact of Scotland's Renewable Energy Sector

Black, James and Spowage, Mairi (2021) Economic Impact of Scotland's Renewable Energy Sector. Fraser of Allander Economic Commentary, 45 (3). ISSN 2046-5378

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Abstract

Central to any strategy in mitigating climate changes is the use of renewable energy sources. However, renewable energy is also being increasingly recognised as an opportunity for economic development. This report quantifies the contribution of renewable activities to employment, output, and gross value added in Scotland. This includes employment and activity in Scotland that are supported directly and through spill-over impacts by Scotland’s renewable energy sector. We find that Scotland's renewable activities support £5.2bn of output, £2.3bn of GVA and 22,660 full-time equivalent employment in the Scottish economy. A significant amount of the FTE employment was supported by onshore wind (8,780), offshore wind (4,700), hydropower (3,290), bioenergy (2,630) and renewable heat (2,390).