Politicians clashed in Holyrood yesterday over predictions of the number of Scottish jobs which could be created in renewables.
Energy Voice says it comes in the wake of the government's draft energy strategy and just transition plan, which sets out how Scotland could ensure a just transition from oil and gas to renewables - and how the existing workforce would be supported on that journey.
The Scottish Conservatives Liam Kerr said projections within the strategy contained "little to no detail" about how the renewables workforce will jump from 19,000 in 2019 to 77,000 in 2050.
Mr Kerr asked energy minister Richard Lochhead for a breakdown of the 77,000 jobs and what the average salaries would be.
Mr Lochhead defended the figures, which he said had been sourced in part from Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University, though he noted the analysis did not include wage estimates which are not collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Mr Kerr later added: "The SNP Government's projections hope there will be a huge leap in job numbers for the likes of wind and hydrogen. But having failed to deliver a promised 130,000 green jobs by 2020, our energy workers will take this with more than a pinch of salt.
Wafer-thin
"Worse, the analysis of wages, training, or even job titles is wafer-thin to non-existent. And there is little to no detail about how the workforce will take shape.
"We need to retrain existing workers and train new ones right now, not in 2050, but without having done the basic data gathering or reassuring the workforce that wages will be comparable, it just isn't going to happen."
Scotland has had a patchy performance on green job delivery so far.
Under former First Minister Alex Salmond, the Scottish Government pledged in 2010 to create 130,000'green jobs by 2020, though delivered just 20,500 according to ONS data.
- Nicola Sturgeon delivered her vision for Scotland's offshore wind sector in front of industry leaders in Glasgow.
Energy Voice says that, while underlining the "incredible progress" over the last decade, the first minister lamented a lack of local input in Scotland's existing wind farms.
But there is an "expectation" from government that the ScotWind leasing round will mark a step change in the fortunes of the country's renewables supply chain.
Ms Sturgeon told delegates at Scottish Renewables' Offshore Wind Conference that they should "feel a sense of pride" about the industry's achievements to date.
"But it also give us great heart and great optimism, and fuel our ambition for the future," she added.
"It is clear that we still have a very long way to go. It's also clear that we've not done as well as we should have in the past in securing supply-chain opportunities that offshore wind presents.
"My expectation is that ScotWind marks a real turning point. We need to accelerate our energy transition, and secure the benefits of renewables."