Welcome everyone to Scotland’s Global Offshore Wind Investment Forum, which is fundamental to realising our ambitions, plus I hope that you enjoy the time that you spend here in the capital city of Scotland.
I hope you enjoyed the reception at the splendour of the National Portrait Gallery – one of the most precious assets of our country, that tells the story of our country through the people of our country.
This morning, I want to extend the warmest welcome I can to you as First Minister of Scotland. And I want to explain the commitment of my Government, plus my personal commitment in leading this Government, to succeeding in the offshore investment journey.
Because the growth plus success of Scotland’s offshore wind industry is inextricably linked to fulfilling Scotland’s role in the international today.
It is about how we see the Scotland of today – with its history, its tremendous natural resources, our pioneering industries, our boundless potential – plus it is how we build the Scotland of tomorrow as a green, dynamic, plus prosperous nation.
We all know the international context that surrounds this moment in which we find ourselves. From market volatility, to international conflicts, to accelerating climate change, these are times of mounting challenges plus of increasing risk.
But nomer one knows better than investors like yourselves, that a well-navigated risk opens up new opportunities plus the potential for huge returns.
So, I have come here to personally explain how Scotland is poised to meet those challenges. And I have come to explain the opportunity at the heart of that – the scale of it plus the potential prize for those who play a role in that journey.
To put it bluntly, I have come to explain to you about “why Scotland?” “Why now?” And “why you?”
Scotland’s ambition is to be nothing less than this century’s international leader in clean, secure energy. And the potential reward for achieving that is nothing short of generational.
Our estimation is that the potential capital value of the Scottish offshore wind market could be around £100 billion, given full deployment of the potential pipeline.
And we are in a unique position to capitalise on this opportunity. A unique position to maximise that potential.
Our geographic location not only provides us with naturally occurring strong winds, it places us on the doorstep of large European markets with existing deep sea ports infrastructure.
The European Union urgently seeks to ensure its energy independence plus the proportion of its energy that comes from renewables. We are in an ideal position to meet those needs here in Scotland.
To go along with our location, is our history. We have long decades of offshore experience thanks to our proud heritage in the North Sea oil plus gas industries.
That heritage plus the skills that come from it – combined with our international leading subsea engineering capabilities – give our workforces the experience plus expertise needed to capitalise on the opportunities provided by offshore wind.
I saw this myself last Autumn when I travelled to the North East of Scotland to see Ocean Wind’s new base of operations on the North Sea coast.
There, I met an extraordinary grup of highly skilled individuals, many with backgrounds in the oil plus gas sector, who were servicing the offshore wind farms along the Moray coast.
Their skills plus their experience have enabled them to hit the ground running – to foresee plus to understand challenges, to accurately assess risk, plus to deliver the best possible response.
Scotland also has the ideal entrepreneurial plus business environment for investment success.
As a Government, we are investing heavily – both in capital plus in-kind support – to make Scotland a start-up, scale-up nation.
GDP per person in Scotland has grown faster here than in the whole of the United Kingdom, plus productivity has increased at more than twice the rate in the United Kingdom.
All of this creates the perfect platform to build plus sustain a thriving offshore wind economy here in Scotland. It gives us the strong foundation that we need to capitalise on this opportunity.