Employment in Renewable Energy in Scotland

Transcription

1 Employment in Renewable Energy in Scotland 2013

2 Employment in Renewable Energy in Scotland 2013 January 2014 O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 200 Bath Street Glasgow G2 4HG Tel : Fax : info@oherlihy.com

3 Scottish Renewables Employment Analysis 2013 This report, commissioned by Scottish Renewables, presents an analysis of employment in Scotland's renewable energy industry. The data was collected by an independent market research company, Research Resource, using a telephone survey and was conducted over summer The survey followed a structured questionnaire. A total of 541 organisations participated actively. It is important to note that employment in renewable energy will be higher than the figure quoted below since there are likely to be organisations who were not included in the survey but who are active in or supplying to the renewable energy sector in Scotland. The analysis below supplements a survey that was undertaken by Scottish Renewables in 2012 that aimed to establish renewable energy employment in Scotland for the first time. Key findings Total employment The Full Time Employment (FTE) total for the 541 organisations included in the survey is 11,695. This is assumed to be our total sample employment figure and has been used throughout our calculations. Gender balance of employment Table 1 below presents the gender split of employment for those respondents who provided details. O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 3

4 Table 1 Gender breakdown of employment Number % of respondents Male 6, Female 2, Subtotal 8, Unclassified 2,855 - Based on data from 511 respondents It can be concluded from the responses of those providing a breakdown that just under three quarters of employees in renewable energy are male. Employment by region The survey allowed data to be analysed by geographic location of the respondent. Our regional location classification is based upon the Scottish Parliament constituency maps and the allocations were done manually using the post-code or address provided by respondents for their principal location (as defined by FTE). Table 2 Employment by region Region FTE Organisations Glasgow 2, Highlands and Islands 1, North East Scotland 1, Mid Scotland and Fife South Scotland West Scotland Lothian 2, Central Scotland Location not classifiable No location information 2, Total 11, In some instances, organisations indicated that they operated from more than one location but did not provide a distribution of employment across their sites. In these instances, it was not possible to calculate their regional employment allocations. The data in Table 2 (represented graphically in Figure 1 below) indicates that the majority of employment (54% of those providing a geographic location) is in Scotland s Central Belt. Highlands & Islands (17%) and the North East (14%) are also regions with substantial renewables employment. O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 4

5 Figure 1 Employment by Region (Scottish Parliament Constituencies) in FTE. O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 5

6 Employment by Segment Table 3 Employment by Segment Number of Organisations with a presence by segment Number of Organisations operating exclusively in one segment Segment FTE Onshore Wind 3, Offshore Wind 1, Bioenergy Hydro Wave/Tidal Solar Heat Pumps Geothermal Grid Public Sector & - - Academia 1,182 Other No sectoral information given 1, Table 3 presents the employment by segment (presented graphically in Figure 2 below). These data comprise responses from two categories of organisation: Those indicating that they operate exclusively in one segment Those indicating that they operate in more than one segment Those operating in more than one segment were asked to provide a breakdown of their employment in each. Our values for FTEs by segment are derived through combining the data from those organisations operating exclusively in that segment with the proportionate data provided by organisations operating across several segments. The total FTE data available from those who provided a segmented breakdown of their employment is 9,002. The analysis indicates that the majority of employment is in Wind Energy with Onshore Wind being dominant (39% of those providing a segmented breakdown) however, Offshore Wind is also significant at 21%. Of the remainder, Wave/Tidal and Bioenergy are notable employers (both 9%). O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 6

7 Table 4 Employment (FTE) by Segment and Region Onshore Wind Offshore Wind Bioenergy Hydro Wave, Tidal Solar, Heat Pumps & Geothermal Grid Other Total Highlands and Islands ,306 Glasgow ,809 North East Scotland ,072 Mid Scotland and Fife South Scotland West Scotland Lothian ,829 Central Scotland No area specified ,608 Total 3,397 1, ,272 O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 7

8 Figure 2 Employment by Segment (FTE) Employment in Renewable Energy in Scotland: 2013 Note: The aggregation of source data by segment can lead to rounding errors Employment by Segment and Region Table 4 (9,272 FTE in total) presents data on the distribution of organisations by segment and region. It can be seen that: Onshore Wind and Hydro are the most important segments from an employment perspective in the Highlands & Islands Onshore Wind dominates employment in Glasgow and is the most significant employer in the South of Scotland and Lothian The North East has a key concentration in Offshore Wind which is also a key segment for Glasgow and Lothian Lothian has a key concentration of organisations engaged in Solar, Heat Pumps and Geothermal As a location, the Highlands & Islands dominates Hydro employment but Glasgow also figures highly in this segment Glasgow is a key location for Grid activities. Some categories have been combined to ensure individual firms cannot be identified. Export performance sample A total of 47 organisations provided information on their export performance and indicated that they were generating 141M of export sales. Where export values were expressed in values other than Pounds Sterling, these were converted using the relevant rate of exchange O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 8

9 active on the 21 October Growth aspirations of sample Respondents were asked to indicate whether their employment would increase, decrease or stay the same over the forthcoming 12 months. The feedback indicates that: 294 organisations (54%) considered their employment would increase 9 organisations (1.6%) felt their employment would decrease 229 organisations (42%) considered their employment would stay the same 1 organisation didn t know 9 organisations did not answer. Of the 294 organisations indicating an increase and nine organisations indicating a decrease, the anticipated changes are listed below (Table 5). Table 5 Projected change in employment (12 months) Projected change Change in FTE Num org.s responding Increase 2, Decrease 9 9 Net Change 2,306 - The data in Table 6 indicates an average of just over 9 people per organisation across 253 organisations (47% of the sample). This is a very powerful finding and indicates that the renewable energy sector is both optimistic about growth and planning to expand significantly. O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 9

10 Skills Gaps Respondents were asked to provide details of any skills gaps they may be encountering. Table 6 Number of Respondents Citing Skills Gaps Gap Number of Organisations Citing Gap % of the total number of organisations identifying at least one gap % of total respondents in survey Admin - other Admin - graduate level Apprenticeships Communications Consultants/senior consultants Graduate level engineers Instrumentation and construction engineers Management and leadership No skills gap Planners Policy Sales Technician engineers R & D - doctoral level Other Don't know No recruitment required It can be seen from Table 6 that technical, construction and engineering skills are key gap areas. It also appears that organisations wish to attract graduate level personnel to their operations. There were 335 organisations in the sample who stated that they were aware of a skills gap in at least one area, 194 organisations who said they currently had no recruitment needs, while 13 didn t or couldn t answer with respect to skills gaps. Barriers to Growth The survey asked firms to identify barriers that they anticipated could hinder their growth aspirations. Table 7 summarises the responses. O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 10

11 Table 7 Barriers to Growth Number of Organisations Uncertainty over market reform 163 Uncertainty over planning/consenting/licensing 154 Uncertainty over grid connections 139 Difficulties sourcing finance 136 No barriers to growth 116 Lack of skilled human resource 85 Prohibitive grid costs 84 Difficulties sourcing materials 53 Government policy constraints/uncertainty 35 Uncertainty in the market/investment in the market 13 Don t know 13 Employment barriers/uncertainty/lack of skilled personnel 9 The current economic situation 6 Other (see below) 12 The Other category above covered the following broadly defined suggestions: Lack of marine leasing opportunities. Renewables sector sees oil and gas sector as far too expensive. Supply chain. Property rates. Not having industrial Bio-Technology test facilities in Scotland Not our main drive business area. Lack of opportunity to generate loads in the industry. Company decision not to expand. Physical facilities at University. Parent company. Entry into overseas markets. Manufacturers approvals for our products to be used in wind farms. The data show that there are four top-level barriers being cited by respondents. Principal amongst these is the Electricity Market Reform process. However Planning and Consents, Grid Connections and Sourcing Finance are also key factors that are perceived by organisations to be constraining their future growth potential. O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 11

12 About O Herlihy & Co Ltd ( Employment in Renewable Energy in Scotland: 2013 O Herlihy & Co. Ltd was formed in 1998 and has specialised in technology and innovation consultancy since its creation. We have a recognised expertise in commercially relevant analysis and have sectoral specialisms in Renewable Energy, Engineering and Technology. We provide strategy development, research, business planning, commercial due diligence and evaluation consultancy services. Our clients include economic development bodies, business representative organisations, investors, firms, universities and colleges of all sizes. In 2006, we completed a comprehensive assessment of the economic value of onshore wind farms to the Scottish economy. This provided a financial and economic model that factored in design complexity, scale and planning processes to the ultimate calculation of the value contribution. The model and its derivatives have been used extensively by commercial organisations to support their planning applications since its publication. O Herlihy & Co. Ltd 12