SNP energy secretary Gillian Martin has admitted the Scottish Government has no plans to pay out its promised £80 million of CCUS funding for the Acorn Project – 18 months after it was awarded track status – claiming investors don’t need the money.
Ms Martin said the SNP government has no intention of releasing the Scottish Cluster funding until track status for the St Fergus project is given, despite it being secured in July 2023 when Acorn was awarded Track 2.
The SNP MSP for Aberdeenshire East, the neighbouring constituency to the St Fergus project near Peterhead, claimed there had been “no request” for the money, which would be deployed to investors “at the point they need it”.
It marks three years to the day since the £80 million was announced, while no funding was included for CCUS in the Scottish Government’s 2025-26 budget.
In July 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited St Fergus to announce Acorn had been selected in Track 2 of the UK Government’s sequencing process, allowing four CCUS clusters to be operational in the UK by the end of this decade.
At that time, the UK Government had already invested £40 million to the Scottish Cluster and pledged almost £1 billion through its new Green Industries Growth Accelerator, aimed at enhancing projects such as Acorn.
During the Scottish Parliament’s energy and net zero committee, when pressed by Douglas Lumsden MSP on why she was not releasing the funds, Ms Martin said: “There has been no request from partners in the Scottish Cluster or the Acorn Project for any of that 80 million until they get track status.
“We announced the 80 million because we wanted to be ready to assist the Scottish Cluster when track status was given.
“They want that £80 million deployed at the point they need it.”
Following the committee, Scottish Conservative shadow energy secretary and North East MSP Douglas Lumsden, said: “It’s now three years to the day since the Scottish Government announced its £80 million Scottish Cluster support fund and disgracefully, not a penny has been paid out from it yet.
“Gillian Martin and the SNP have run out of excuses for not releasing the funding they promised for Acorn and didn’t even have the decency to mention the project in its 2025-26 Scottish Budget.
“Track 2 status was confirmed 18 months ago which is why it’s inexplicable that we are still waiting on the promised funding to be paid out.
“The SNP Government are still trying to create grievance and division, leading to uncertainty for investors, for their own political purposes, and have no intention of sticking to their promise.
“It’s high time they stop harming business investment and finally come up with the £80 million which will help to bring this vital project forward in unlocking the potential to support 21,000 jobs.”
