Today (10 July 2024), Colin Marr, Chief Executive of the Inverness Chamber of Commerce, together with: Derek Brown, Chief Executive, Highland Council; Stuart Black, Chief Executive, Highlands and Islands Enterprise; Alison Wilson, Director of Economic Development and Advancement, UHI; and Calum MacPherson, Chief Executive, Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport, have written to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Right Honourable Ed Miliband MP.
The group of key business and organisation leaders is calling on the new Labour UK Government to locate the headquarters of the proposed GB Energy, a new publicly owned green power company, to be based in the Highlands of Scotland. This comes as the region positions itself as one of Europe’s leading green energy hubs following the establishment of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF), and where the majority of the UKs clean energy will be generated.
The letter, in full below, outlines the key reasons why the Scottish Highlands is the best place for GB Energy to be based and why this decision would align with the Prime Minister’s commitments that the firm will drive the transition to clean energy, investing in wind and solar projects, as well as new technologies including floating offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.
Colin Marr, Inverness Chamber Chief Executive said: “We have written to Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and asked him to give full consideration to locating the headquarters of GB Energy in the Highlands.
“The incoming Labour government has made a commitment to create GB Energy as a publicly owned company that through investment in technology and supply chains will help deliver clean energy to every corner of the UK. It will be at the centre of delivering our transformation to net zero.
“In the Highlands through the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport we know we are on track to deliver the majority of the UKs clean energy over the medium to long term future. Having GB Energy headquartered here makes sense so that the public company leading the transition is co-located with the generation, manufacturing, assembling and technology advances.
“For the Highlands the location of GB Energy would be another step to transforming the area. For the last decade the working age population in the Highlands has declined. It is predicted to decline further. The location of a major government department or publicly owned company would help to reverse that by bringing secure well-paid employment. It would also help secure long overdue public investment in infrastructure – especially transport.
“We are already going to be at the centre of the of the energy transition, and the location of GB Energy would incentivise companies who are leading this change to also headquarter in the Highlands, and therefore bring further population and employment benefits.”
“In writing to Mr Miliband it was essential that the main public bodies in the Highlands were also on board with this request. Locating GB Energy here would have implications for transport, housing, training and other infrastructure so it was essential that those responsible for delivering these plans all share the same ambition and are ready to step up if and when the opportunity presents itself. I think our region is united in its ambition to ensure that we fully benefit form the coming energy transition.”
Read the letter in full here:
Right Honourable Ed Miliband MP, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
10th July 2024
Dear Mr Miliband
GB energy headquarters and the Highlands of Scotland
Congratulations on the Labour party’s UK election victory and on your appointment as Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
We were pleased to hear the government confirm their plans to create GB Energy and to locate the headquarters in Scotland. We are writing to outline why the Highlands of Scotland is the best location for the headquarters.
As you will be aware the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF) is attracting significant international investment in assembly and manufacturing facilities to accelerate offshore wind power for the UK. A significant proportion of the UK’s wind power, both on and offshore, and the majority of pumped hydro storage schemes will be located in the Highlands of Scotland. Therefore, following transition, the majority of the UKs clean energy will be generated in the Highlands.
Our unique geography—with deep water, large sheltered ports, and inland areas ideal for pumped hydro storage—makes the manufacture and installations required for the energy transition feasible only in our region; it cannot and will not happen elsewhere in the UK.
Through ICFGF we are attracting inward investment at an astonishing rate and anticipate £3.5bn of energy related investment and a further £12bn of investment in grid infrastructure over the coming years.
We therefore invite you to give serious consideration to locating the headquarters of GB Energy in the Highlands of Scotland. While other parts of Scotland may present competing proposals, they will be primarily based on current energy generation, not on the generation of the future. As such, any other location is likely to find itself distanced from UK energy generation and associated manufacturing in the near to mid future. Locating such a vital institution in the north of Scotland would also be a powerful statement as to how central Government can benefit the whole UK in terms of spend and employment.
We would be delighted to welcome you to Inverness and to show you the scale and speed of investment in energy transition in both ICFGF and across the Highlands as a whole.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Colin Marr, Chief Executive, Inverness Chamber of Commerce
On behalf of
Derek Brown, Chief Executive, Highland Council
Stuart Black, Chief Executive, Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Alison Wilson, Director of Economic Development and Advancement, UHI
Calum MacPherson, Chief Executive, Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport
Cc
Sir Keir Starmer MP, Prime Minister
Ian Murray MP, Secretary of State for Scotland
Angus MacDonald MP for Inverness Skye and West Ross-shire
Jamie Stone MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Kate Forbes, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch
Fergus Ewing MSP for Inverness and Nairn