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Just Transition Fund - projects awarded funding announced
Thursday 13 October 2022 - 11:43
The Just Transition Fund (JTF) is a £500 million ten-year commitment that will support projects in the North East and Moray which contribute towards the region’s transition to net zero.
In 2021 the shared policy programme in the Bute House Agreement committed to establish a 10-year £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray. The Fund was announced in recognition of the particular need to diversify the regional economy away from carbon-intensive industries and to capitalise on the opportunities, including jobs and prosperity, that the transition to net zero will bring.
The last few months have seen extensive engagement across the region with businesses, communities, workers, trade unions, enterprise agencies and local authorities to design the Fund. The outputs from this engagement have been crucial in shaping the Fund. The projects receiving funding are listed below:
|
Project |
Lead organisation |
Description |
Funding awarded |
|
Seedpod |
Opportunity North East |
Centre providing incubator and product development space to accelerate the growth and decarbonisation of existing businesses and start-ups. |
£3,100,000 |
|
Just Transition Hub |
James Hutton Institute |
Hub will act as a catalyst and diffuser of nature-based-solutions for a net zero transition in the land use sector. |
£7,192,000 |
|
Digital innovation lab |
Robert Gordon University |
Pilot providing support to the construction sector to decarbonise and generate green jobs, particularly through the retrofitting of existing buildings and intelligent design of new ones. |
£673,000 |
|
Moray Just Transition Masterplan |
Moray Council |
Five interlinked projects to support Moray’s journey away from fossil fuels, including projects to support offshore renewables, creation of a local hydrogen economy, natural capital approach to offsetting, and redeveloping derelict land and premises. |
£881,000 |
|
Supply Chain Pathway and Energy Transition Challenge Fund |
Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) |
Challenge fund will stimulate major investment from indigenous energy supply chain companies looking to deliver green energy projects and pathway programme will inform and identify the capital investment requirements needed to deliver. |
£9,782,000 |
|
HydroGlen |
James Hutton Institute |
Green hydrogen farming pilot to acquire new knowledge to switch from increasingly high levels of fuel poverty to self-reliant, net-zero carbon energy producers in rural communities. |
£6,218,204 |
|
NESS Energy Carbon Capture Feasibility |
Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray Councils |
Study to determine if there is a viable project to retrofit carbon capture systems to the NESS energy facility. |
£100,000 |
|
Skills Passport |
OPITO |
Development and deployment of a digital offshore energy skills passport to support the transition of skills and jobs across the rapidly changing industry. |
£4,986,000 |
|
Advanced Manufacturing Skills Hub |
ETZ and North East Scotland College |
Creation of the Skills Hub in Altens as a focal point of the Energy Transition Zone Skills Campus. |
£4,500,000 |
|
Pilot Energy Transition Skills |
National Energy Skills Accelerator (NESA) |
Pilot scheme to determine the skills required to reach an energy transition. |
£1,000,000 |
|
Net Zero Bottlenecks in Moray |
UHI Moray |
Feasibility study to identify the current skill gaps in Moray and what is holding it back in transitioning to net zero |
£210,000 |
|
Easter Anguston Farm |
VSA |
Centre of excellence focusing on 4 areas: STEM, food, woodland adventures and social prescribing. |
£500,000 |
|
Hydrogen Offshore Production (HOP2) |
Net Zero Technology Centre |
Project to demonstrate that offshore hydrogen production and storage is feasible through the repurposing of existing assets to produce green hydrogen. |
£2,120,000 |
|
Sustainable Solvent Recovery for EV battery recycling |
Ripcell |
Pilot to test technology using pot ale (whisky waste product) to deploy a “green solvent” to be used in recycling batteries. |
£626,734 |
|
Tidal Rotor Generators |
Shine Engineering |
Pilot to develop tidal rotor generators to create a source of green energy in the region. |
£167,000 |
|
Wave Energy Converter |
Seaweed Energy |
Development of device that generates electricity from the oscillation of waves. |
£100,100 |
|
Findhorn EcoVillage |
Park Ecovillage Trust and Findhorn Innovation Research & Education |
Four feasibility studies looking at shifting from conventional housing to net zero housing and transportation within the context of the ecovillage and beyond. |
£226,775 |
|
Findhorn Watershed Riverwoods Pilot |
Findhorn Nairn & Lossie Rivers Trust |
Creating a thriving, regenerated River Findhorn watershed, with an unbroken network of riparian woodland along its riverbanks, supporting the restoration of Wild Atlantic Salmon populations. |
£970,000 |
|
North East Adventure Tourism |
Opportunity North East |
Project to transform the region into a world class destination for adventure tourism by facilitating the development of high quality, sustainable facilities and low carbon infrastructure. |
£2,097,000 |
|
The Cabrach Distillery |
Cabrach Trust |
Development of distillery, a Community Interest Company for the Cabrach region that would use its revenues for rural regeneration and community led regeneration master plan. |
£325,000 |
|
North East Community Climate Assembly Pilot |
North East Climate Action Network (NESCAN) |
Project aims to address the question of how communities can be involved in and help to drive the process of designing, creating and delivering a Just Transition through a range of participative approaches, including Climate Assemblies. |
£386,152 |
|
Railway Feasibility Study |
Campaign for North East Rail (CNER): |
Study examining a freight and passenger railway connecting Dyce, Ellon, Peterhead, and Fraserburgh. |
£250,000 |
|
Social Enterprise Just Transition Fund |
Social Investment Scotland |
Creation of a pilot challenge fund alongside a programme of market building activity to support social enterprises to understand the opportunities presented by the Just Transition Fund over the next 10 years and to take advantage of the investment available. |
£1,027,180 |
|
Participatory Budgeting |
|
£1 million of the Fund will be allocated to participatory budgeting every year over the lifetime of this parliament. |
£4,200,000 |
Alongside supporting and monitoring delivery of year one projects, over the coming year the Scottish Government will work with stakeholders to develop that collective just transition vision for the North East and Moray.