The UK Government must use the subsidy bill mentioned in the Queen’s Speech to link subsidies for wind farms to using the UK supply chain to create 30,000 new jobs, GMB Scotland has urged.
In response to the Queen’s Speech Subsidy Control Bill, GMB Scotland said it will lead a “concerted campaign” in coastal and industrial areas for government to link public subsidies for offshore wind farms to using a UK supply chain.
The union said there is not enough steel fabrication capacity to build 8000 offshore wind turbines needed to achieve the UK’s 2050 net zero target, but linking subsidies and a Renewables Development Authority will speed up development.
BARROW has been highlighted as a location targeted for 30,000 new jobs in UK steel fabrication to build approximately 300 giant wind turbines each year. This comes following demand in order to meet the net zero carbon by 2050 target and is vital for levelling up coastal and industrial areas says GMB. As things stand, without a Renewables Development Authority to develop UK capacity, these steel fabrication jobs are destined to be in Asia with the only role for UK workers being to pay for them which is unnecessary and politically unacceptable says GMB Scotland. Up to 30,000 new jobs are required in the UK steel fabrication sector to build the approximately 300 giant offshore wind turbines each year every year to meet official UK net zero carbon emissions electricity new capacity by 2050.