Onshore wind policy statement refresh - draft: consultation analysis

Appendix 2

Question 6

Reports, Research and other analysis referred to by respondents

North of Scotland Future Energy Scenarios (North of Scotland Future Energy Scenarios (NoSFES) (ssen-transmission.co.uk) ) show that 10.4GW-11.1GW of onshore wind will be necessary in the north of Scotland by 2030 to contribute to Scotland's wider decarbonisation goals. To put this into perspective, we currently have 3.2GW of onshore wind connected to our network (Energy Org)

Achieving the 8-12GW target will also require significant investment in Scotland's Transmission network to connect and then deliver this clean electricity to areas of demand all over GB. It should be noted that this level of investment in new onshore wind projects is currently not accounted for in strategic network planning documents such as National Grid ESO's latest Network Options Assessment for 2022 (Network Options Assessment (NOA) | National Grid ESO) (Energy Org)

Our Energy Transition Group report, 'Powering the Change' (powering-change-calling-the-south-of-scotland-to-action-final.pdf (southofscotlandenterprise.com))estimated that decarbonisation of the regions heating, and transport would require, depending on the level of energy efficiency investment undertaken in parallel, between 408 GWh and 565 GWh per annum more power than at present, in order to meet the South of Scotland's own needs in decarbonising heating for off gas grid homes, social housing and to convert the region's car fleet on a one-to-one basis from fossil fuels to EVs. This means that, even in regions such as the South of Scotland, comprised of Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Scottish Borders Council area, which already hosted some 1.318 GW of installed capacity (15.6% of the Scottish total) by 2020, there may require to be further capacity and/ or sites to meet future Scottish demand while also meeting growth in local demand. (Govt funded body / regulator)

The ambition set out in the draft OWPS to accelerate deployment of onshore wind must be done in a way that does not undermine efforts to tackle the loss of biodiversity and to reach the target of extending the protected area in Scotland to at least 30% of land by 2030 ('30x30'), as set out in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy post-2020 Statement of Intent (https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-biodiversity-strategy-post-2020-statement-intent/) (Lobby / Interest Group)

However, we do not believe that the 8-12GW target currently set out is sufficient to meet the binding net zero commitments. Renewable UK's Onshore Wind Industry Prospectus (Oct 2021) (onshore_wind_prospectus_fina.pdf (ymaws.com) sets out that the Scottish Government needs to set out a target of 12GW of new development by 2030. (Renewable Energy)

The (North Ayrshire) Council's own Landscape Capacity Study shows that most capacity for additional development would be achieved through repowering. (Local Authority / planner)

SR asserts that Scotland should fully commit to an additional 12GW of onshore wind by 2030, and adopt a 12GW minimum target, instead of terming it an 'ambition'….A more detailed analysis of how it would be achieved and the socio-economic benefits it will deliver are set out in the Onshore Wind Industry Prospectus (Oct 2021) (onshore_wind_prospectus_fina.pdf (ymaws.com) produced in collaboration with Scottish Renewables. In summary, 12GW of additional onshore wind deployment would create 17,000 jobs and generate £27.8 billion GVA to the Scottish economy. (Various)

SSER fully support the target as we believe it will be necessary in order for the UK to meet its net zero targets. We also support Scottish governments target of achieving 30% protection of Scotland's land and … we are already at 35% protection from Group 1 and 2 and wild land. We have looked closer at the wild land category as it is by far the largest new constraint and we discovered that far more land is allocated to wild land than for renewable energy.

We have looked closer at the wild land category as it is by far the largest new constraint and we discovered that far more land is allocated to wild land than for renewable energy.

In looking closer at the makeup of wild land we discovered that 76% of wild land was already covered by existing designations of one type or other. This left 24% of wild land with no other qualification other than wild land. To meet the targets SSER believe that wild land must be revisited such that some areas will be needed to accommodate development that helps meet the net zero targets (SSE Renewables, Renewable Energy, GIS mapping exercise to identify suitable areas for onshore wind farm development)

We welcome the Scottish Government's ambition in achieving climate action objectives.

This notwithstanding, due consideration must be given to the landscape and visual impact of each proposal. In general terms, proposals will be supported as long as they do not result in unacceptable significant adverse impacts on Fife's landscapes. For guidance, we look to:

• Low Carbon Fife SG (Low-Carbon-Fife-Supplementary-Guidance-Jan-2019.pdf ) which sets out landscape capacity to accommodate wind turbines in Fife.
• Siting and Designing Wind Farms in the Landscape, Nature Scot, (Siting and designing wind farms in the landscape - Version 2 | NatureScot) (Local Authority / planner)

Even with the progress elucidated in the Community Energy State of the Sector Report 2021, which included Wales, Scotland and England (see: https://www.communityenergyengland.org/pages/state-of-the-sector) community energy remains a small fraction of renewable energy generation and supply in this country (Individual)

How to access background or source data

The data collected for this social research publication:

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