Concurrent and legacy economic and environmental impacts from establishing a marine energy sector in Scotland

Citation

Allan G, Bryden I, McGregor PG, Stallard T, Swales JK, Turner K & Wallace R (2008) Concurrent and legacy economic and environmental impacts from establishing a marine energy sector in Scotland. Energy Policy, 36 (7), pp. 2734-2753. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.02.020

Abstract
We examine the economic and environmental impact that the installation of 3 GW of marine energy capacity would have on Scotland. This is not a forecast, but a projection of the likely effects of meeting the Scottish Government's targets for renewable energy through the development of a marine energy sector. Energy, with a particular focus on renewables, is seen by the Scottish Government as a "key sector", with high growth potential and the capacity to boost productivity (Scottish Government, 2007a. The Government Economic Strategy. The Scottish Government, Edinburgh). The key nature of this sector has been identified through targets being set for renewable energy to achieve environmental and economic benefits. Using a regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of Scotland we show that the development of a marine energy sector can have substantial and beneficial impacts on GDP, employment and the environment over the lifetime of the devices, given the encouragement of strong indigenous inter-industry linkages. Furthermore, there are also substantial "legacy" effects that persist well beyond the design life of the devices.

Keywords
Wave energy; Computable general equilibrium; Economic impacts

Journal
Energy Policy: Volume 36, Issue 7