SCOTLAND’S Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has hit out at the Tories’ “perverse” view of renewables ahead of his meeting with UK equivalent Amber Rudd later today.
The Scottish Government has renewed calls for the UK Government to change course on its cuts in support for renewable energy, and this morning in London, Ewing will host a Renewables Roundtable event.
Representatives from across the renewables industry, environmental and business organisations will discuss the impact of recent UK Government decisions on renewables, such as the early ending of the Renewables Obligation which subsidises the industry.
The Scottish Government is taking the lead in attacking the UK Government’s energy policy which they say is costing the renewables industry millions as investor confidence in the sector recedes.
A recent report from Scottish Renewables suggests around two gigawatts of onshore wind projects in Scotland have been put at risk. The report adds: “These are projects that could bring around £3 billion pounds of investment.”
The Scottish Government’s position is that the UK Government’s own impact assessment shows that 63 million tonnes more CO2 will be released into the atmosphere as a result of their green energy cuts.
The subsidy cuts come as a National Grid assessment shows the gap between electricity supply and demand tightening, and ahead of the Paris climate-change talks where Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK must play a leading role.
The demands made by the Scottish Government include a Renewables Obligation grace period which includes everything already in the planning system, a date for the next Contract for Difference (CfD) funding round to give certainty for developers, a route to market for new onshore wind farms and concessions for community energy as part of the Feed-In Tariff (FITs) scheme.
Ewing said: “Recent decisions on renewable energy by the UK Government can only be described as anti-business, anti-environment and anti-energy security.
“The impacts are spreading right across Scotland and the UK. It not just the renewables industry that is affected but also the wider supply chain, including ports and harbours, transmission and distribution, consultancy, communities and the civil engineering sector.
“We have made repeated calls to extend the grace period for all projects currently in the planning system and I am disappointed this doesn’t appear to have been accepted.
“As the Energy Bill progresses in Westminster we will continue to argue that it is in the interests of business, environment and energy security for the UK Government to mitigate their hard-line stance.
“It’s particularly perverse for the Prime Minister to want the UK to play a leading role in the climate talks when his own policies are slashing green energy.”
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