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The British Hydropower Association welcomes the publication of a report from the Scottish Government on jobs and hydropower in Scotland

 

The Scottish Government published recently a report called 'The Employment Potential of Scotland's Hydro Resource'. The report shows scenarios and potential growth of jobs linked to hydropower in Scotland.

BHA Chief Executive, David Williams, said 'We are particularly pleased that the renewable policies that have been put in place since the major Scottish Hydro Resource Potential survey, published in late 2008, have increased the number of financially viable hydro projects. This increase, which is mainly due to the wider acceptance of micro-hydro generation, boosts the overall generation capacity from 657mw to 1204mw, which would generate up to 4 million MWhrs a year : up to a third of Scotland's domestic demand.'
 
However, the report reviews different growth scenarios up to the year 2030 and the major bottleneck is in the amount of skill available in Scotland and the rest of the UK to achieve worthwhile targets.
 
To create jobs, meet renewable energy targets and fight climate change Scottish and UK government support is needed to optimise hydro development in areas such as:
 
1.       Training in hydro skills
2.       Streamlining of consents processes
3.       Removal of unwieldy and inappropriate bureaucracy
4.       Improved infrastructure

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