Scotland's flourishing renewable energy industry is employing record numbers of workers, a sector-wide survey suggests.

Most of the companies involved are looking to recruit more staff in the next 12 months, according to a Scottish Renewables poll of over 540 renewables businesses.

There were 11,695 staff fully employed last summer, a rise of 5% on 2012.

Positions offered included project managers, ecologists and engineers.

Expansion in renewables jobs outpaced the increase in employment in the Scottish economy overall, the poll found.

Glasgow, the Lothians, Highlands & Islands and the North East were the areas benefiting most from the jobs influx.

The greatest sources of jobs came in onshore wind (39%), offshore wind (21%), marine and bioenergy (both 9%).

Over half (54%) the companies polled claimed they would be looking to recruit extra staff in the coming year.

More than four in 10 of them (42%) said their staff levels would remain constant, while just 1.6% anticipated them to diminish.

Joss Blamire, senior policy manager for Scottish Renewables, said the new statistics demonstrate that the renewables sector has witnessed sensible growth in the amount of staff being employed despite, an uncertain year.

Mr Blamire said: “The breadth of job opportunities for project managers, ecologists and engineers has led to a wide range of people seeing renewable energy as a sector where they can use their skills and training.”

He said that the renewables industry is showing it can be a substantial contributor to several regional economies throughout Scotland.

Mr Blamire added: “Emerging sectors such as offshore wind and marine energy are already playing their part in creating much-needed job opportunities.”

The BBC reported environmental campaign group WWF Scotland head of policy Sam Gardner saying: “This report underlines the fact that not only is Scotland's renewable sector cutting climate emissions and meeting 40% of our electricity needs, it is also an increasingly important employer across Scotland.”

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