Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group minutes: October 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, Co-Chair, Minister for Climate Action 
• Claire Mack, Co-Chair, Scottish Renewables
• Chris Mackie, SG Deputy Chair, Scottish Government 
• Morag Watson, Sector Deal Lead, Scottish Renewables
• Megan Amundson, Head of Onshore Wind and Consenting, Scottish Renewables
• Jamie Blair, Sector Deal Project Manager, Scottish Renewables 
• Robbie Kernahan, Land Use and Environmental Considerations Lead, NatureScot
• Chris Morris, Community Energy Lead, Local Energy Scotland
• Heather Donald, G12 Representative, SSE
• John Boyce, G12 Representative, Renewable Energy Systems Ltd
• Sam Johnson, Technical Barriers Lead, Renewable Energy Systems Ltd
• Paul Cantwell, Circular Economy Lead, National Manufacturing Institute Scotland
• Neil Douglas, Scottish Renewables Sector Deal Support, BVG Associates
• Kenny Taylor, Partner, Zero Waste Scotland
• Lewis Cowie, Graduate Analyst, Zero Waste Scotland
• Carolyn Wilson, Seconded to Scottish Government from SSE
• Onshore Electricity Policy, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Head of Onshore Electricity Policy, Scottish Government
• Paul Wheelhouse, Supply Chain, Skills and Circular Economy Lead, South of Scotland Enterprise
• Marcus Trinick KC, Planning Considerations Lead 

Items and actions

Welcome

The meeting was co-chaired by Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Climate Action and Claire Mack, Scottish Renewables (SR). The chair set out the agenda and his recognition that the ambition of 20GW of onshore wind by 2030 is a stretching one.  However, he believes that working together to deliver the commitments set out in the Sector Deal will go a long way to helping us meet that ambition.

He also highlighted the excellent collaboration he has seen between industry, government and agencies over the last year to implement the sector deal. He noted that it was clear to him that progress was being made, however it was clear there was still work to be done one year on from signing the Sector Deal. 

UK Government Taskforce

The UK Government Taskforce was set up due to the change in policy from the new UK Government in removing the defacto ban on onshore wind farms in England. The taskforce is a task and finish approach with six different subgroups who continue to meet regularly. There are representatives from Scotland included in the taskforce groups.

Scottish Renewables have been asked to input into workstreams where there is crossover with the Sector Deal by sharing lessons learned from the development phase. The subgroups have been looking at barriers to deployment and what policies they need to implement to help alleviate barriers. 

Hagshaw Cluster presentation

Zero Waste Scotland delivered a presentation on their recently published report on the Hagshaw Cluster and Circular Economy.

The Hagshaw Energy Cluster is an established strategic location for large scale renewable energy projects, located on the border of East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The Development Framework’s overarching purpose for Hagshaw Energy Cluster is to identify opportunities to enhance and invest in the local environment, communities and place. A circular economy has been identified as a key opportunity within the Framework, under the theme of ‘inclusive, sustainable growth’.

They provided a timeline of the work they have undertaken and an overview of their annual review report and community report, which both set out their findings, learning, opportunities and recommendations. They have shared the two reports with communities and partners in the Hagshaw Cluster and will engage further with communities on the findings and recommendations of both. 

Scottish Renewables blade recycling paper

SR provided an update on blade recycling, which is a commitment within the Sector Deal. This commitment was included as when wind farms require decommissioning there was concern around blades ending up in landfill. Within the last twelve months, the company Reblade have made a major investment, which they believe means they can now take all blades within the UK. Reblade act as a repurposing facility and reuse the blades for things such as bus shelters. 
The group agreed that this update fulfilled the blade recycling commitment in the Sector Deal.

SR also raised the SusWind working group, which pre-dated the Sector Deal and looks at processes around the of recycling turbine blades. This work is continuing and SR agreed to keep the SLG updated on the work of the group. 

Community Benefit Register

Local Energy Scotland (LES) presented their Community Benefit Register and community shared ownership to SLG Members. The register is a Sector Deal commitment and key to monitoring other commitments, reporting community benefit spend and impacts.

They provided an overview of the community benefit register which included downloadable data, filterable and searchable map and lists and information on projects pre-planning, consented, in construction and operational. 

The register has been built, tested and LES are working closely with stakeholders to finalise the register. It will be launched to developers in October with training sessions being available to those who need them.

Sector Deal planning commitments

Carolyn Wilson, ECU secondee, provided an update on the planning commitments within the Sector Deal, which have an overall aim of making the section 36 application process more efficient.

To support the increase in the volume of section 36 applications, the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) are going through a recruitment campaign and some new staff have joined already. 

Standardised ECU conditions for section 36 have been created, which should aid the efficiency of the application process. They will look to publish a conditions template for developers to use when completing applications and a similar template will also be issued to consultees. ECU should be able to share a copy of the template standard conditions with the group by next week, which will be published on the ECU website in due course. 

It was noted that ECU are also working on a standardised determinations letter that will give certainty for developers as it will be in a consistent format. ECU are looking to publish this online in November. 

ECU has also been feeding into the environmental impact assessment (EIA) task and finish group, which will make suggestions to Government on streamlining the EIA process soon. Finally, ECU secondees are also working on a Sector Deal commitment to have consistent formats for the planning authorities consultation responses. 

Any other business and close 

There was acknowledgement from the group that the change in administration at UKG and establishment of the onshore wind taskforce has impacted how we will deliver some of the Sector Deal commitments, especially those of a reserved nature. 

The next SLG meeting will be held in December. 

Actions

• have an overview of how commitments/workstreams in the sector deal are progressing with a RAG rating attached
• Zero Waste Scotland to circulate their reports
• Scottish Renewables to keep the group updated on the progression of the suswind project
• Local Energy Scotland to shared details on Viking Wind Farm community offering
• Carolyn Wilson to share the standardised ECU conditions when they are available