SCOTLAND will fail in its bid to become the green energy centre of Europe because of a lack of dynamism and a bureaucratic planning system, one of the country's leading businessmen warned yesterday.
Ian Marchant, chief executive of Scottish & Southern Energy, told MSPs and business leaders that the goal – set by enterprise minister Jim Mather – was the equivalent of "St Johnstone winning the Champions League".
His claim follows widespread cri
ticism of the country's planning system.
First Minster Alex Salmond's council of economic advisers has prioritised the issue and earlier this month said it wanted incentives for local authorities.
Mr Marchant – who is also chairman of the Climate Change Business Delivery Group – said his company's plans for a wind farm had been going through the planning process for five years.
Addressing the Business in the Parliament conference at Holyrood, he said if companies worked to such long time frames, ventures would never get off the ground.
SSE recently acquired a company which has worked on wind farms around the world, he said, and in its experience, the UK planning system was the worst to deal with.
He said: "We have one wind- farm development that's been in the planning for five years. If business took five years to make a decision, it would not be a business.
"So, Jim, your claim that there's no doubt the country can be the green energy capital of Europe is the equivalent of me standing here with an office in Perth saying there's no doubt in the next 12 years St Johnstone will win the Champions League."
He said the country had the right leadership for success but decision-making needed to be improved.
John Swinney, the finance minister, admitted that the planning system was "utterly absurd" because it gave the same attention to "doors and windows" as it did to major developments.
Earlier, First Minister Alex Salmond said the government's flagship policy of matching the UK growth rate of about 2.5-3 per cent could still be achieved despite the economic climate.
In the longer term, the government wants to increase growth levels to those of the smaller of independent nations around Scotland such as the Irish Republic and Norway.
Mr Salmond also reiterated his calls for a shake-up of the planning system.
ENERGY IS GREEN GOLDA EUROPEAN Green Energy Centre is to be established in Aberdeen, Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, announced yesterday.
The centre will promote and develop a range of renewable energy technologies.
Speaking at the European Movement Energy Conference in Aberdeen, Mr Salmond said technical expertise in the country meant Scotland had something to offer Europe.
He said: "Not long ago, Scotland's climate was seen as something of a drawback. Well no longer. Now our powerful waters and our high winds – onshore and offshore – are the envy of Europe, and key to our future prosperity."
He said the centre would draw upon the network of European research and industry-wide partnerships in place to develop new projects.
"We want Scottish based industry and research to be at the forefront of European," he added.
It will be created under the new Energy Technologies Partnership – a joint venture between Aberdeen and Robert Gordon universities.
The announcement was welcomed by Jason Ormiston, chief executive of Scottish Renewables.
The full article contains 556 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
