GB Energy’s new Aberdeen headquarters will create “hundreds” of jobs and “may eventually” reach 1,000 or more, its new chairman has revealed.
Juergen Maier laid out details of the publicly-owned energy firm as he made his first appearance before MPs at Westminster on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last month confirmed the Granite City is the chosen location for GB Energy’s new HQ.
But there were questions around what the new energy body will actually do and how many jobs it will deliver in the north-east.
Mr Maier, former chief executive of Siemens UK, said Aberdeen will be the “centre” of all operations.
All the key staff will be located there, including the chief executive of the firm, when they are appointed.
“We might start with an interim chief executive that might not be located there but eventually that will be our plan”, Mr Maier added.
“There will be other locations. We also would like a location in Edinburgh and in Glasgow, particularly to help on innovation, and maybe financial services.
“But where I see the main role in Aberdeen is particularly around operational engineering jobs and ultimately those are the jobs that are in abundance in Aberdeen, are the well paid jobs and are also the greater quantity of the jobs.”
GB Energy’s new HQ will create ‘hundreds’ of jobs in Aberdeen
When pressed again on how many jobs will be brought to Aberdeen, Mr Maier said they “haven’t obviously been able to put a direct number on it yet”.
But confirmed it will be “in the hundreds” and “may eventually be 1,000 or more”.
GB Energy will own, manage, and operate clean power projects up and down the country, backed by £8.3 billion.
Mr Maier said the Aberdeen roles will work with supply chains and the private sector to determine how technologies such as floating offshore wind will be enabled.
They will also look at what are some of the innovation challenges, project management and help schemes gain planning permission, he added.
“I very much see the role of Great British Energy as an enabler of getting such new technologies onto the grid and also as an investor and a co-investor and that’s going to take quite a team of people and skills to achieve that.”
More widely on green energy, he highlighted UK estimates that more than 100,000 people will be employed in offshore wind by the end of the decade.
Andrew Bowie, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, said the lack of a concrete jobs figure “raises suspicions this will bring nothing more to Aberdeen than a small office with a plaque”.
He added: “Serious questions remain over GB Energy, which won’t compensate for the hammer-blow Labour’s stance on oil and gas have already delivered to the north-east.”
Meanwhile, GB Energy’s new chairman was unable to say when bills would fall as a result of Labour’s flagship policy.
Under questioning from Aberdeen South MP Stephen Flynn, Mr Maier said the only way to get bills down is by “more renewable energy”.
But he said the “exact mechanism” by how that happens is a “matter of policy” and is “not within the scope of GB Energy”.
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