Wind turbine payments: EIR release

Information requested

1. I am aware that land owners with wind turbines on their land get paid a certain amount of money each year for every turbine they have on their land. Please tell me what the total cost for this is for all of last year, taking into account every turbine in Scotland.

2. I am also aware someone gets paid a certain amount of money for each turbine whenever they have to be switched off because the wind is too strong. Please tell me who gets this money and how much it amounted for all of last year.

3. Also, please tell me where this money comes from for all these payments.

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 publicinterest 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.

1. I am aware that land owners with wind turbines on their land get paid a certain amount of money each year for every turbine they have on their land. Please tell me what the total cost for this is for all of last year, taking into account every turbine in Scotland.

For land owned by Forestry and Land Scotland, the total rental income received by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) from windfarms on their estate for 2022-23 was £14,319,578.

This excludes any rents/servitudes/wayleaves from windfarms or portions of windfarms that are not actually on FLS estate. It also excludes any other income from rents that are not for the turbines themselves e.g. substations/Battery Energy Storage Systems (and access through to other parts of the scheme not on FLS land), etc.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The Scottish Government does not hold information for land it does not own and cannot provide information relating to income from wind turbines on privately owned land. Therefore, we are refusing this part of 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.

2. I am also aware someone gets paid a certain amount of money for each turbine whenever they have to be switched off because the wind is too strong. Please tell me who gets this money and how much it amounted for all of last year.

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to any income or costs associated with individual wind turbine sites.

The responsibility for balancing of the grid lies with the National Grid Electricity System Operator (the ESO). Grid balancing includes constraint payments which are designed to compensate wind farm operators for curtailing their generation at times when supply exceeds demand. This is part of the National Grid’s electricity system operator grid balancing strategy, designed to ensure that supply always meets demand. More information including data on balancing costs can be found here: Balancing costs | ESO (nationalgrideso.com).

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore, we are refusing this part of 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.

3. Also, please tell me where this money comes from for all these payments.

The costs incurred by a wind farm operator are reflected in the wholesale price of electricity, with electricity markets regulated at GB level. The costs incurred by the GB electricity system operator (the ESO) for balancing the grid are paid for by suppliers across GB and those directly connected to the GB transmission system. Ultimately these costs are passed onto GB consumers through their electricity bills.

Further information on what makes up the costs on your electricity bill can be found on Ofgem’s website here: Understand your electricity and gas bills | Ofgem. Ofgem is GB’s energy regulator and is responsible for protecting consumers.

ANNEX

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.

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 you have requested, 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.