Scottish public sector pension funds could benefit the multi-billion offshore wind bonanza, says Kate Forbes 

Stuart Wallace, CEO of Forth Ports, is joined by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes on the Camperdown tug in Leith

Scotland’s unprecedented offshore wind boom could leverage much-needed investment from public sector pensions – such as the NHS Scotland and substantial local authority schemes – to support the billions required to deliver the ‘just’ transition, the Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said in the Port of Leith.

The question arose after Forth Ports, the UK’s third largest port operator, announced a £50m private sector investment in upgrading the port infrastructure in Leith to secure Scotland’s large offshore wind contract, which is the 1.1 gigawatt (GW) Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. The port upgrade will include dredging the port to give deep-water construction vessels the draft to load subsea mooring platforms weighing 3,000 tonnes. It will also create a landing zone for the assembly of the turbine tower components required for the wind farm, including the Vestas turbines. InchCape expects the wind farm to be operational and connected to the national UK power grid by 2027.

Forth Ports, which operates eight commercial ports in the UK, including Tilbury on the Thames, Dundee, and Leith, Grangemouth, Rosyth, Methil, Burntisland and Kirkcaldy on the Firth of Forth, is ultimately owned by the Canada’s largest pension investment company, PSP Investments, which looks after the pension of the likes of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian public sector. PSP Investments, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, owns 100 per cent of the Forth Ports group.

Ms Forbes was asked why Canadian public sector worker will benefit from Scotland’s boom through their pension dividends, and why this should not be the same for the large public sector pension investors in Scotland.

The Deputy First Minister said she is looking at how public sector funds – from local authorities – could be included in the investment.

She explained that the Scottish Government is tripling capital funding in offshore wind in 2025/2026 to £150m, which is part of a strategic investment of up to £500m over the next five years. She says this is expected to leverage an additional £1.5bn in private sector investment.

This follows a total of £67m of resource funding in 2024/25 plus a further increase of around £12.6m. Much of this has investment comes from the successful ScotWind licensing round giving offshore developers blocks around the coast where they can build offshore and, potentially, floating wind platforms.

“This is not simply for the ports but for the supply chain, where we need to see facilities established, where we need to see technology developed, and this chicken and egg, of getting the supply chain moving and in place and ready for the  high growth in development,” she said.

If Canadian pensions can be invested in Scottish opportunity, then we also need to see the same things for Scottish pensions,’ says Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister

“Today’s announcement is really monumental because you have an agreement between developer, infrastructure and investment for the £50m Leith renewables hub, which will develop some of the infrastructure that has perhaps not been operating at full capacity since the downturn of oil and gas,” she said.

So how can Scotland’s public pension companies get in on this investment bonanza?

“The Scottish Government’s £500m in designed to leverage £1.5bn of private investment. The point being that we absolutely need to look at other sources of investment and pension funds is one of the biggest opportunities. You are absolutely right. The Chancellor has announced recent reforms to pension investment, which we want to take full advantage of. It’s early days but the point that you’ve made is one that I agree with. If Canadian pensions can be invested in Scottish opportunity, then we also need to see the same things for Scottish pensions.”

Earlier the Deputy First Minister met with Stuart Wallace, CEO of Forth Ports, and representatives from Inch Cape, and took pictures on a Dundee tug which has been used to help delivery of offshore components. Forth Ports are investing in several more high-powered support vessels.

David Webster, Commercial Director at Forth Ports, spoke about how investment will be use to create the renewables hub in the Port of Leith based on their recent experience in Dundee, which has served in the construction of EDF Renewables’ and ESB’s major offshore wind farm. He said this will bring highly-skilled jobs to the Firth of Forth.

“This important harbour and dock investment for the 175-acre Leith Renewables Hub is completely funded by the private sector. What it does is allow the offshore wind developers to site all of their infrastructure onshore, ready for its dispersal during the construction phase, which is expected to begin in 2025.”

The heavy-lifting berth has been named the Charles Hammond berth, after the recently retired CEO, will be able to accommodate the largest offshore vessels in the world.

Inch Cape Offshore Limited is the developer of the 1080MW wind farm which will be 15km from the Angus coastline. It will have 72 wind turbines with the electricity fed to a new substation, via for the sub-sea cable connections, at Cockenzie, on the site of the former power station. Inch Cape Offshore Limited is a 50-50 joint venture by Irish energy group, ESB, and Red Rock Renewables.

John Hill, Inch Cape’s project director, said: “The utilisation of these two east coast ports – Leith and Dundee – for our offshore construction, will also facilitate significant opportunities with our Tier 1 contractors for the wider Scottish supply chain.”