(Image: SSE)
A contract expected to support 400 jobs in Scotland has emerged as a relatively rare win for champions of renewable energy's capacity to replace thousands of jobs lost in the North Sea's traditional oil and gas industry.
SSE has named Aberdeen-based Seaway7 as preferred supplier for key infrastructure on the 1.4GW Berwick Bank B offshore wind project, with the agreement expected to support 465 jobs across the UK, including 400 in Scotland.
The energy company said the announcement takes the total number of jobs created or supported through Berwick Bank commitments announced so far to more than 500 in Scotland and around 600 across the UK.
The announcement comes amid an increasingly heated debate over whether Scotland's renewable energy boom is generating replacement employment quickly enough to offset job losses elsewhere in the energy sector.
Industry estimates from the North Sea Transition Taskforce suggest 25,000 oil and gas jobs have been lost across the UK since the July 2024 general election. The figure has become a focal point for businesses and industry bodies concerned about falling investment in the North Sea and the pace of decline in traditional offshore activity.
Against that backdrop, the Seaway7 agreement is notable because it points to identifiable work linked to a specific project, company and location rather than broader forecasts about future employment
Around 160 of the roles are expected to be direct jobs with Seaway7, while another 105 are linked to the UK supply chain. A further 200 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be supported through turbine foundation marshalling work at a Scottish port that has yet to be announced.
While Scotland has established itself as a leader in renewable energy generation, substantial elements of manufacturing, fabrication and installation activity have frequently taken place elsewhere. As a result, scrutiny has increasingly focused on domestic supply chains, port infrastructure, and the number of Scottish jobs supported by renewable energy projects.
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Supporters of the transition argue that a substantial green economy is already taking shape. Research highlighted by Skills Development Scotland estimates that 109,000 of Scotland's 2.5 million jobs fall into the category of "new and emerging green jobs", while demand for green skills has risen sharply in recent years.
But while a range of estimates point to a growing green workforce, there is no widely-used measure showing how many new jobs have been created by Scotland's renewable energy industry in recent years, nor how that compares with the pace of losses in traditional oil and gas employment.
For workers and businesses in north-east Scotland, that gap is crucial. The region has spent much of the past decade grappling with the fallout from the oil and gas downturn, with weaker business confidence, slower hiring and repeated warnings that Aberdeen's economy has lagged behind many other parts of the UK. As a result, the debate over green jobs remains politically charged.
The issue is rarely whether offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and other low-carbon industries will eventually create jobs, but whether those opportunities are arriving quickly enough to replace employment being lost elsewhere. Seaway7 does not settle that argument.
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The jobs announced by SSE include both roles created and roles supported, rather than entirely new positions. The preferred supplier agreement also remains subject to final contract award, while Berwick Bank B itself still requires a final investment decision from SSE, expected next year.
Even so, the announcement shines a light on a question that policymakers, developers and industry leaders still struggle to answer convincingly: how many new jobs is Scotland's green energy transition actually creating?
For supporters of the transition, the Seaway7 agreement provides one of the clearest examples yet of replacement work linked to a specific project, company and location. For sceptics, it underlines the scale of the challenge still facing north-east Scotland as it looks for evidence that green industries can replace jobs lost from the North Sea economy.