Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fergus Ewing

Energy Transition

Fergus Ewing: Consumers real victim in wind subsidy scrap

This week’s summit was a an opportunity for me to hear the industry’s concerns about the recent decision from the UK Government to close the Renewables Obligation early in next April. This of course is a big blow to our industry in Scotland especially as around 70% of onshore wind projects in the UK planning system are in Scotland, this will surely have a disproportionate impact on us. This can only be described as anti-business and the impacts could spread right across Scotland and the wider supply chain, including ports and harbours, transmission and distribution, consultancy, universities and the civil engineering sector. All of this is will come at great personal and economic cost to our businesses and people. I’ve heard from many successful businesses who are at the forefront of renewables technology who are now looking being forced to looking at redundancies as a result of these changes.

Opinion

Fergus Ewing: Budget neglects exploration opportunity

The UK Government’s decision to widen the scope of the investment allowance in the Summer Budget is a positive measure, and something which the Scottish Government has previously called for – however, this Budget represents a missed opportunity for the North Sea. As the First Minister outlined at the Oil & Gas UK Conference last month in Aberdeen, and as I reiterated in my letter to the Chancellor, further action is still required to incentivise exploration, promote stability across the industry and boost investor confidence. The Scottish Government’s latest summary of the oil and gas sector identified the North Sea as the largest oil producer in the EU by a considerable margin and the second largest gas producer in the EU after the Netherlands, supporting around 200,000 jobs and with a supply chain with international sales of more than £11billion.

Opinion

Exploiting Scotland’s unique advantages will lead to growth

Some say Scotland must make a choice for our future: pursue economic growth, or protect the environment. My response is simple - there is no contradiction in pursuing both. The only credible long-term economic strategy is to exploit Scotland's unique advantages - engineering excellence, research base, energy expertise and natural resources - to grow the economy, while reducing emissions long-term.

Oil & Gas

London must understand the need for certainty

On July 25, the UK Government announced its decision to follow Scotland's lead and set its own onshore wind band at 0.9 ROCS. This decision is to be welcomed, but I am concerned at London's decision to only set this band for one year, until 2014, and immediately review it, risking yet more uncertainty for the industry and potentially discouraging investors.