Dumfries and Galloway renewable electricity generation figures: EIR release

Information requested

1. How much energy is developed from onshore wind power in Dumfries and Galloway and how this correlates as a proportion from the total produced in Scotland as a whole?

2. What area of land has been consumed for use as onshore wind farms in Dumfries and Galloway?

Response

1. Renewable electricity generation figures by local authority are available through the department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Please find a table below with wind generation figures for Dumfries & Galloway 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%
Scotland	23,086	100%	19,896	100%	27762	100%

2. The Scottish Government does not hold data on wind farm land use.

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 Dumfries and Galloway Council who may be able to help you via the following email address: contact@dumgal.gov.uk. 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 wind farm land use in Dumfries and Galloway, 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.