Speaking in Glasgow (Scotland) Tuesday at the RenewableUK annual conference, Salmond said the investment fund would allow Scottish ports and wind farm factories to upgrade their facilities to meet the “immense challenge” of building and installing the offshore wind and marine energy farms planned by ministers.
"We are a nation with considerable natural and human resources and the political will needed to deliver a green energy revolution that can build sustainable economic recovery and reduce Europe's carbon emissions," he said according to a report in the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
Salmond said the £70m fund would help leverage further private funding for ports at Leith in Edinburgh and Dundee, and fabrication yards at Nigg near Inverness and Methil in Fife, which are among the sites most likely to win support from the fund.
It would allow Scotland to create around £7bn and 28,000 jobs from green energy over the next decade, but business leaders and banks have warned the UK's facilities are too poor and fragmented, the Guardian reported.
Around 7,000 wind turbines are expected to be built offshore around the UK over the next 10 years, with Scotland expected to see 40% of the UK-wide investment. Scottish Enterprise, the investment agency, estimates at least £222m is needed immediately to upgrade 11 key Scottish green energy sites.
Last month, the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) announced a very similar £60m fund for ports and fabrication yards in England; Salmond said his larger fund will be "open for business immediately", while the Decc funds will become available next April.
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