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EDINBURGH, Scotland, August 16, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
Scotland has issued a draft planning policy that
will achieve a level of 40% of electricity from renewables by 2020.
Scottish ministers want 6 GW of green power by that time, “and
this is by no means a cap,” it explains in Scottish Planning Policy
(SPP) 6. The draft guidance was prepared in consultation with the
Environmental Advisory Forum for Renewable Energy and is designed to
solicit comments until October 6.
“The importance of using clean and sustainable energy from renewable
sources will continue to increase as a result of the need to tackle
climate change and ensure secure and diverse energy supplies,” it
explains. “Scottish Ministers will continue to support the full
range of renewable generation technologies, including micro-renewables,
to enable Scotland to realize its considerable renewable energy
potential.”
The planning framework in the SPP will “help ensure the delivery of
renewable energy targets as well as facilitating the development of
a viable renewables industry in Scotland,” and the “development of
existing and new technologies has the potential to provide
significant opportunities for Scotland to enhance its manufacturing
capacity with associated economic and employment benefits.”
“Such benefits, which may accrue both locally or nationally, should
be fully taken into account when considering planning applications,”
and the SPP explains how the planning system should manage the
process of “encouraging, approving and implementing renewable energy
proposals when preparing development plans and determining planning
applications.” Planning authorities should use the development plan
process to support continued growth of all renewables but, in
particular, “plans should be used to identify those areas likely to
be suitable for windfarm developments.”
Planning officials should also use the process to quantify the local
potential to accommodate renewable energy developments, and an
area’s potential to accommodate renewable energy developments should
be expressed as a local contribution and be quantified in megawatts.
Existing legislative powers, and those proposed in the Planning
Bill, will ensure that local policies take account of this SPP.
The Scottish Executive wants 18% of electricity to come from
renewables by 2010, and progress towards this target is driven by
the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) which obliges suppliers to
provide an increasing proportion of their electricity generated from
eligible renewable sources. “Renewable generating capacity already
installed, plus consented capacity not yet built, is likely to be
sufficient to meet the Executive’s 2010 target assuming, as seems
likely, that the bulk of the consented capacity is operational by
2010.”
The intent of the SPP is to “facilitate successful achievement of
the 2020 target, and beyond, in an environmentally acceptable
manner,” it notes. Hydro and onshore wind are currently making the
most significant contribution, and this is expected to continue
although “other technologies may have the potential to contribute
more significantly to the overall generation mix in the longer
term,” it notes.
Scottish Ministers want a “major increase in the small-scale
production of heat and electricity from renewable sources,” with
most of the growth expected at the domestic level through micro wind
turbines, woodchip boilers, geothermal heat pumps and solar thermal
heating. “The promotion of renewable energy as a means of reducing
carbon emissions forms an important part of Scotland’s efforts to
tackle climate change.”
“The policies in this SPP recognize that future renewable generation
technologies, the electricity market generally and transmission grid
availability in particular may develop in ways that cannot be
foreseen,” but Ministers “expect planning authorities to make
positive provision for renewable energy developments by supporting a
diverse range of renewable energy technologies including encouraging
the development of growing and new technologies, recognizing the
importance of fully engaging with local communities at all stages of
the planning process, guiding development to appropriate sites, and
ensuring that environmental, economic and social benefits are fully
exploited.”
“There is potential, particularly in rural areas, for communities to
invest in ownership of renewable energy projects or to develop their
own local projects,” it continues. “Small scale windfarms, such as
those proposed by local communities, may be able to supply
electricity to the local distribution network and therefore avoid
the need to use grid capacity on the transmission network.”
“In the short term, onshore wind power is likely to make the most
substantial contribution towards meeting renewable targets,” it
adds. “Scotland has considerable potential to accommodate this
technology in the landscape although, increasingly, careful
consideration will need to be given to other issues, including the
need to address cumulative impacts.”
“The development plan process should be used to guide developers to
broad areas of search where windfarm proposals are likely to be
considered appropriate taking account of the renewable energy
resources in the area, natural heritage interests and existing,
planned and possible future grid availability,” it continues. “Plans
should also identify those areas where windfarm developments should
be avoided in line with the policies set out in this SPP.”
“Consideration of the significance of any adverse impacts of a
renewable generation proposal should have regard to the projected
benefits of the proposal in terms of the scale of its contribution
to addressing climate change through its contribution to the
Scottish Executive’s targets for renewable energy,” it concludes. “A
relevant consideration should be whether such a scale of renewables
contribution could be realized with fewer or lesser impacts in a
different location or through several, smaller projects.”
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