Deployment ambition for solar power generation 2030: EIR release

Information requested

"Has the Scottish Government made a decision on what the 2030 deployment ambition for solar power generation should be?"

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption 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 exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your request

On 28 October 2023, the Scottish Government publicly announced a proposal for a solar deployment ambition of 4-6GW by 2030, with a condition for large scale solar projects to provide an appropriate level of community benefit, to be agreed with industry.

This was communicated to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee in writing. A copy of the letter can be viewed on the Scottish Parliament website here.

A final decision will be made on this proposed ambition in the final solar vision, due to be published with the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), by Summer 2024.

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.