|
Energy Technologies Institute
A members' business
debate on motion S2M-4904, in the name of Richard Baker "Report on
Aberdeen's bid for the national
energy technologies institute.
The Deputy
Presiding Officer (Murray Tosh):
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S2M-4904,
in the name of Richard Baker, on Aberdeen's bid for the national energy
technologies institute.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the current and future importance of the energy
sector to the north east's economy; recognises that Aberdeen and the north
east are home to a unique cluster of skills and expertise in energy
exploration and development; notes the success of the Intermediary
Technology Institute for Energy which is based in Aberdeen and works closely
with the network of intermediary technology institutes throughout Scotland
and also sources academic research across the United Kingdom and worldwide;
believes that this successful model based in Aberdeen shows that the city
has a unique potential to be the hub for a Scottish bid for the UK Energy
Technologies Institute; notes both the location of leading oil and gas
operators and contractors in Aberdeen and the work of the Aberdeen Renewable
Energy Group, and welcomes the efforts to ensure that the UK Energy
Technologies Institute is located in Aberdeen so that the north east
remains a global leader in the energy industry.
Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab):
I thank colleagues from all parties who supported the motion. The intention
is that the institute will work in partnership with and be jointly funded by
business in order to place the UK at the cutting edge of energy science and
engineering. The aim is to provide the UK with a pre-eminent world-class
means of delivering energy technology research that will underpin eventual
deployment and which will be driven by the critical need to develop
long-term sustainable and secure energy solutions. Those are key strategic
aims for the UK and our energy industry.
Aberdeen already makes a major contribution to achieving those aims.
Aberdeen is home to the Executive-funded intermediary technology institute
for energy, which already manages research and development programmes from
throughout the energy spectrum — from mature oil and gas, power networks and
energy storage through to renewables and clean energy. The model of the ITI,
which collaborates with partners from industry, academia and the financial
sector, is clearly a good one on which to base the operation of the UK
institute. Aberdeen already has a wealth of partnership working across the
whole spectrum of the energy industry.
Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP):
Is the member aware that not only is RGU one of the leading universities in
that sector but that it has recently attracted significant interest from
China? Chinese postgraduate students are currently there for training in the
sector, which is precisely the kind of approach that is being sought by the
Department of Trade and Industry.
Richard Baker:
Brian Adam makes an excellent point that establishes that there are global
connections that we have in academia and the industry, which come through to
Aberdeen.
We should not forget the University of Aberdeen. The institute for energy
technologies at the university is one of the pre-eminent centres of its kind
in Europe, with top-class researchers and links to, and funding from,
industry. It is involved in a joint project with the UHI Millennium
Institute to offer a
range of courses that will be linked to the decommissioning of Dounreay.
The Executive placed the energy ITI in Aberdeen because that is where the
cluster for energy is. The same argument follows for the UK institute. As
Europe's capital of energy, working with partners throughout the UK, as it
already does, Aberdeen is ideally placed to make the Government's aspiration
for the institute a reality. I hope that the minister can reassure us
tonight that the Executive realises that.
Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP):
Yesterday, I received a written answer to one of the questions that I have
lodged on the issue. It is disappointing that the Deputy Minister for
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning did not go as far as his colleague Richard
Baker and those of us who signed the motion would like him to go. He wrote
only about attracting "a significant proportion of the Energy Technologies
Institute's research funds to centres of excellence in Scotland, including
Aberdeen."— [Official Report, Written Answers, 25 October 2006; S2W-28860.]
I was looking for a dynamic approach to getting the institute here in
Scotland. The sensible place for it to be is Aberdeen. Of course we should
involve partners, but the minister was asked a specific question but did not
particularly endorse the proposal. We need to create partnerships throughout
the academic world in Scotland. That is happening now, but the minister's
response did not have the enthusiastic approach to an Aberdeen-led bid that
I expected.
I commend the motion to the minister and hope that he will give a positive
response.
Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con):
The energy sector in Aberdeen is a major contributor to the country's
economy. To put it into context, an industrial sector that employs around
40,000 people in Aberdeen is equivalent to one that employs 630,000 people
in the London area — the equivalent, I am told, of nine Heathrow airports.
Furthermore, this year's business gateway international study has shown that
41 per cent of exporters in the North sea oil and gas sector have
international activities valued at more than £1 million and that
international business accounts for at least a third of their turnover. I
hope that the minister will agree that there are compelling reasons for
considering Aberdeen as its location. I hope that he will add his support to
Aberdeen's case, as have the CBI and other significant industrial and
academic players in the energy sector.
Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green):
A quick look at Scotland's greenhouse gas statistics shows that energy, in
all its forms, accounts for very nearly 90 per cent of our carbon emissions.
If we are to achieve the reductions that are needed — some people are
talking about reductions of more than 90 per cent over the next three
decades — energy must be at the
very heart of policy. There needs to be a fundamental shift in the way we
generate, distribute and use energy. We need to raise our game and
acknowledge that energy policy means more than simply the supply of
electricity.
If the energy technologies institute is to go anywhere, Aberdeen is very
well placed to be its home, but we need to question whether that is the best
use of limited funds for moving towards a low-carbon economy.
We need to start changing now. We do not have the luxury of being able to
wait for 10 years of NETI research before we start to change our ways. I
fear that this initiative is simply another method of putting off the
inevitable for another few years, making it someone else's political
headache. We just cannot afford to keep on procrastinating like this. We
know what to do. Let us just do it, instead of talking about it.
The Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning (Allan Wilson):
I join other members in thanking Richard Baker for giving us the opportunity
to debate a subject that is important, not least to Aberdeen and the
north-east of Scotland.
I have listened with interest to and noted the views that have been
expressed.
As most members have said, the energy industry has long been a mainstay of
the north-east's economy. The oil and gas industry in Scotland has been and
continues to be hugely successful and the knowledge base in Aberdeen extends
beyond offshore exploration and production in the North sea. The industry
provides expertise worldwide in exploration, decommissioning offshore
resources, health and safety and project management. Companies in the
north-east are succeeding in selling their expertise in oil and gas to other
parts of the world. The north-east has also experienced significant
investment in renewable energy, as Richard Baker and others said.
The north-east has a proven track record in research. ITI Energy, which is
based in Aberdeen, is an excellent example of a relatively new organisation
that has made a significant impact on the energy scene. The seven projects
that it has commissioned have a potential investment of more than £30
million and show ITI Energy's ability to bring world-class teams together to
create globally competitive technologies.
ITI Energy has engaged widely with the business, academic and financial
communities to ensure a focus on developing energy-related technologies with
commercialisation opportunities and with the potential to deliver
significant economic benefit for Scotland.
Brian Adam:
Does the minister agree that ITI Energy, which is based in Aberdeen, would
complement rather than compete with the energy technologies institute that
the DTI proposes?
Allan Wilson:
Very much so. I am sure that the member is familiar with the series of road
shows that ITI Energy is undertaking to promote the opportunities for
Scottish organisations to become involved in the projects that it has
commissioned by becoming a licensee or supply-chain provider or by investing
directly, for example. ITI Energy provides opportunities, not least for the
companies that Brian Adam mentioned in an intervention, such as the major
electricity generators in Scotland, which are not headquartered in Aberdeen.
Another innovative partnership — the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group — has
successfully brought together energy businesses, research institutes,
consultancies and economic development agencies to identify and promote new
renewable energy opportunities for north-east Scotland. The group is
involved in assessing the feasibility of an offshore wind farm off the coast
of Aberdeen — members will be familiar with that project — and in developing
the energy futures centre and accelerating the transfer of oil and gas
expertise to the renewables industry. That knowledge transfer is an
important part of the process.
All that activity shows why Aberdeen is — rightly — considered the energy
capital of Europe. There is no doubt that considerable expertise exists in
the north-east and that it has the potential to make a significant
contribution to the proposed energy technologies institute.
Members — not least Shiona Baird, who I thought had a bit of a warped
impression of what we propose — will probably find it helpful if I briefly
explain the aims of the energy technologies institute, how it will be
established, the timescales and, most important, what we are doing to ensure
that Scotland is fully involved from the outset.
In partnership with the private sector, the UK Government intends to
establish a world-leading scientific institute to help the UK to tackle
future energy challenges. Research and development are fundamental to facing
the challenges that we identified in the energy white paper and reiterated
in the energy review. Those challenges are to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases — something I would have thought Shiona Baird would welcome — to
address the decline in the UK's indigenous energy supplies and to modernise
the UK's energy infrastructure.
The institute's remit will be to accelerate the development of secure,
reliable, cost-effective, low-carbon energy technologies towards commercial
deployment. That is a fundamental objective if we are to meet our wider
social and economic policy objectives. The institute will support specific
industrially relevant projects to develop both small-scale and large-scale
energy supply technologies, projects to develop a mix of energy technologies
to increase security and diversity of supply, projects to increase the
efficiency of energy use, projects to develop sustainable transport fuels
and transport management technologies, projects to develop energy
infrastructure and supply technologies, and projects to alleviate energy
poverty through the provision of secure clean energy to our poorest
communities. I would have thought that we would all subscribe to those
objectives, but it is obvious that not all of us do.
The institute will have £1 billion of funding for the next 10 years. Half of
that money will be provided by the UK Government and half will be provided
by private sector partners. The point that four of the world's largest
energy
companies — E.ON UK, Shell, EDF Energy and BP — have already expressed
support for the initiative has been mentioned.
The institute will be established on a hub-and-spoke model. The director's
office will form the hub, and the spokes will be centres of excellence
located in various academic and scientific institutions in the UK. Most of
the institute's research activity will take place in the spokes.
Brian Adam:
I want to be helpful to the minister. Does he agree that it is important
that, in any Scottish bid, we identify at an early point a suitable director
so that we can build the bid around that person and the institute?
Allan Wilson:
I was just about to speak about timescales.
As I said, the institute will be established on a hub-and-spoke model. Its
board will be appointed by the end of the year, and the director will be
appointed circa January 2007. Discussions about where the director will be
based will start in January 2007 and are expected to be completed by next
summer. It is hoped that the institute will be up and running by the second
half of 2007.
I turn to Scotland's role in the process. We fully support the establishment
of the institute — I hope that that reassures members. Secure, reliable and
cost-effective energy is key to the sustainable development of our economy,
and it is vital that the UK accelerates and broadens research activity in
the energy sector and invests in the development and deployment of a wide
range of modern technologies.
Scotland has a well-developed research base in energy and a number of
world-class academic institutions that have a wealth of experience in energy
research. There are major energy research activities in the University of
Strathclyde, the University of Edinburgh, the University of St Andrews,
Heriot-Watt University and the universities in the Aberdeen area in fields
such as renewable energy, hydrogen fuel cells, petroleum engineering and
power systems. Those universities have a track record of commercial sector
involvement and strong links with people in the energy industries, many of
whom are based in Scotland.
We are confident that Scotland will play a major part in the new institute.
The Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State
for Trade and Industry to express our full support for Scottish involvement
in the institute. Rather than focusing on individual bids, the Executive has
emphasised working with Scottish universities, the economic development
agencies, the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and
industry to develop a comprehensive and coherent bid to attract a
significant
proportion of the institute's research funds to centres of excellence in
Scotland. We recognise Aberdeen's key role in that process.
We believe that Scotland should be fully involved in the energy technologies
institute. We have put in place a work programme — which members have
referred to — to develop a bid that demonstrates Scotland's capabilities in
the round. Our bid will reflect the skills and expertise in the north-east,
which I have referred to. The Aberdeen city and shire economic forum is
contributing to the development of the bid. We are confident that such an
approach will maximise Scottish involvement in the new institute.
To
read the entire debate:
Click Here
|
