Highlands and Islands Energy Jobs and Offshore Renewables Projects

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland has a growing reputation as the energy power house of Europe. Its strong legacy in the oil and gas industry and abundance of renewable energy resources, coupled with excellent infrastructure and a skilled workforce means the region is ideally placed to be at the fore of the energy industry.

This map provides overall estimates of energy-related employment figures for HIE account managed businesses within the Highlands and Islands region, as well as an overall figure for oil and gas employees who are based in the Highlands and Islands, but working offshore in the North Sea.

SSE currently has around 2,000 people either working directly for them or contracted to them in the Highlands and Islands. A significant number of the staff and contractors are working on upgrades to the Transmission and Distribution networks in the area. The contractors are a mixture of Highlands and Islands companies and national companies with staff based in the region to undertake the upgrade projects and will fluctuate so the figure is indicative.

These employment figures represent jobs covering all stages of the project lifecycle in all aspects of the energy sector. In addition to employee numbers within the energy sector, planned and operational offshore wind, wave and tidal and demonstration projects are included, showing the details of each project to date.