HIE to work "very closely" with Crown Estate Scotland on offshore wind developments
New Highlands and Islands Chief Exec Stuart Black also says covid recovery and dealing with the impact of Brexit are among his top priorities.
The new boss of the Highlands economic and development agency says they're working "very closely" with public bodies to ensure jobs from offshore wind farms stay local.
It was confirmed earlier this week that 17 new offshore windfarms are going to be constructed around Scotland's coastline, with companies bidding almost £700 million for the development rights.
It's said to bring huge potential for Highland and Moray.
Highlands and Islands Entreprise's (HIE) Chief Executive Dr Sturt Black confirmed he had talks with Crown Estate Scotland yesterday morning.
He said: "The ScotWind bidders had to make commitments about local supply.
"I had a meeting with the Chief Exec of Crown Estate Scotland and we’re going to work very closely with Crown Estate Scotland to make sure that investment comes to our region.
"We’ve got the land, we’ve got skilled workforce, we’ve also got the ability to train people through UHI and the colleges so I think this region has a great future.
"We’ve got huge opportunities from this sector, I’ve said before that it could be as important as north sea oil in the 1970’s and I really do believe that.
"The opportunities in the ScotWind round are huge for our region and we need to take advantage of them.
"Many of my school friends went to work at Ardersier, I want to see many of the future young people in the Highlands working at Nigg, Ardersier, Kishorn, all the sites that we had before creating the clean green energy the world needs."
Funicular still on track to re-open this year
Dr Black, who started his new role this month, also confirmed they're hoping the Cairngorm Funicular will be up and running towards the end of this year.
He added: "We’re really keen to get the funicular up and running as quickly as we can, once it’s repaired there will have to be safety checks and things done on it, but we’re determined to get the funicular reinstated and working again.
"It is such a vital part of the economy of Badenoch and Strathspey and it’s also an important national asset for Scotland."
Dr Black also outlined some of his top priorities for the region.
He said: "The main priority going forward is obviously covid recovery, the economy has gone through a real economic shock, probably the greatest one that’s been for decades, bigger than the financial crash because it’s affected every sector, so recovery from covid is obviously a key priority.
"We’ve also had the impact of Brexit as well and that’s particularly effected remote island communities and our remote mainland communities particularly ones that are dependant on shellfish."