Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group minutes: 21 May 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Ragne Low, SG Deputy Chair, Scottish Government
• Morag Watson, Sector Deal Lead, Scottish Renewables
• Megan Amundson, Sector Deal Deputy, Scottish Renewables
• Neil Douglas, Scottish Renewables Sector Deal Support, BVG Associates
• Graham Gow, Scottish Renewables Sector Deal Support, BVG Associates
• Heather Donald, G12 Representative, SSE
• Heidi Douglas-Osborn, Technical Barriers Deputy, Renewable UK
• Paul Wheelhouse, Supply Chain, Skills and Circular Economy Lead, South of Scotland Enterprise
• Chris Morris, Community Energy Lead, Local Energy Scotland
• Darren Hemsley, Land Use and Environmental Considerations Deputy, NatureScot
• Mark Morrison, Senior Consultant, Optimat

Apologies

• Marcus Trinick KC, Planning Considerations Lead
• Robbie Kernahan, Land Use and Environmental Considerations Lead, NatureScot 
• Sam Johnson, Techincal Barriers Lead, Renewable Energy Systems Ltd
• Simon Gill, Legislative and Regulatory Barriers Lead, The Energy Landscape

Items and actions

Welcome 

The Scottish Government (SG) deputy Chair welcomed SLG members and ran through the agenda. 

Theme Updates 

BVGa delivered a presentation on the Onshore Wind Sector Deal (OnWSD) commitments due by mid-2024 and provided updates on their status. BVGa relayed the outputs of a recent briefing session with Police Scotland in relation to the OnWSD abnormal loads commitment. There was a consensus among SLG members that abnormal loads are a challenging issue. 

BVGa also highlighted the progress of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) task and finish group, which is taking forward commitments in relation to streamlining EIA reports. The group is currently working through an expert consultee feedback process before submitting a proposal to the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) for review. 

Finally, BVGa noted that OnWSD theme updates are published on the Scottish Renewables website on a regular basis and SLG member feedback is welcomed. 

Community benefit register presentation 

Local Energy Scotland presented their new national register of community benefit and community shared ownership to SLG Members. The database formed part of an OnWSD commitment and will be updated on an annual basis. 

The national register of community benefits and community shared ownership will allow developers to upload their community benefit provision on each of their projects. The register will help with the monitoring community benefit deployment and allow sharing of good practice.

The register will be updated on a regular basis and is publicly available, with members of the public able to download the data directly.

Current and future skills mapping research presentation

Optimat delivered a presentation on the current and future skills mapping research. This was a study to deliver on a commitment in the OnWSD to: 

•    understand the jobs and skills requirements to support the deployment of onshore wind;
•    provide the analysis from which the enhancement of current skills and training provisions to meet future sector needs can be developed.

They presented their findings to the group which concluded that a significant increase to workforce numbers from a diverse range of skillsets up to 2030 and beyond was required. They also highlighted the high levels of competition for skilled individuals and the large workforce demands in remote rural locations, where it can already be difficult to recruit.

They presented their recommendations which included addressing these shortages with awareness raising of career opportunities within the sector, the transferable nature of the skills developed and the longevity of the sector. They also suggested targeted campaigns in rural areas to demonstrate that there are highly skilled jobs for local people in the sector. Finally, extending wind turbine technician training provision in Scotland to support operation and maintenance of onshore wind farms should be explored.

Scottish Renewables advised SLG members they will be convening a stakeholder roundtable to discuss the findings of the report and start to discuss next steps. 

AOB and actions 

SLG Members agreed to have an additional virtual meeting in July in advance of the next SLG meeting in September with Scottish Ministers.