Scottish national renewable energy production: EIR release

Information requested

1. What percentage of the Scottish national renewable energy did windfarms in Dumfries and Galloway and south Ayrshire produce in each of the years below

• 2020
• 2021
• 2022

2. What percentage of energy did windfarms in Dumfries and Galloway alone produce as part of Scotland’s renewable energy.

3. What percentage of Scotland’s total number of wind turbines based on windfarms are currently in Dumfries and Galloway.

4. In 2020, 2021,2023 how much of the energy produced by windfarms in Dumfries and Galloway was exported to

•  England
•  Ireland

Response

1,2) Renewable electricity generation figures by local authority are available through the department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and can be found here. Please find a table below with wind generation figures for Dumfries & Galloway and South Ayrshire in GWh and appropriate percentages for 2020, 2021 and 2022.

	2020	% of total 2020	2021	% of total 2021	2022	% of total 2022
Dumfries & Galloway	1696.7	7%	1537.2	8%	2127.4	8%
South Ayrshire	1294.6	6%	1248.5	6%	1589.5	6%
Total	2991.3	13%	2785.8	14%	3716.8	13%
Scotland	23,086	100%	19,896	100%	27762	100%

3) The number of wind turbines are included in the Renewable Electricity Planning Database published by DESNZ.

As of Q2 2023, there were 477 operational wind turbines in Dumfries and Galloway and a total of 4,286 turbines across Scotland. This corresponds to a percentage of 11.1%.

4) The Scottish Government does not hold data on electricity exports at local authority level.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. You may wish to contact the National Grid who may be able to help you. They have a data portal (Welcome to National Grid ESO | National Grid ESO) and associated contact email address (OpenData.ESO@nationalgrideso.com).

Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
The Scottish Government does not have the information Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Scottish Government is not responsible for the subject.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception.

While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about onshore windfarms, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.