Renewable energy is key to reaching a net-zero economy
We estimate that the renewable energy industry had a turnover of £10 billion and approximately 10,900 FTE jobs in 2022.
■ However, the economic activity supported by the renewables sector is far greater than its own turnover and employment. The renewable energy sector supports economic activity throughout its supply chains and this economic activity supports wage spending across Scotland.
■ Including these spill-over effects, we estimate that the renewable energy industry supported £15.5 billion of output, £6.6 billion of GVA and over 47,000 FTE employment across the Scottish economy in 2022.
■ The technologies that individually supported the most FTE employment are offshore wind (19,580), onshore wind (16,865), renewable heat (4,095) and hydropower (3,560).
■ However, due to significant uncertainty in the underlying data and updates to the methodology, the 2022 results should be seen as a standalone snapshot rather than part of a trend. Methodological changes were made to better reflect current conditions.
■ Additionally, the energy price crisis in 2022 had significant effects - boosting sector turnover but also increasing costs, which limited growth in GVA and employment. As a result, the 2022 results should be interpreted with care and not directly compared with data from previous years.