BLOG: Removing barriers now to deliver Scotland's onshore wind opportunity

Scotland can unlock a green recovery from onshore wind development, creating and supporting new jobs, if we take steps now to remove the barriers facing the sector, writes our Head of Onshore Development Derek Hastings.

5 August 2020: I was delighted today to speak in the opening session of Scottish Renewables Onshore Wind conference on whether the stars are aligning for onshore wind’s resurgence in Scotland. The session looked at some of the opportunities which are emerging for onshore wind in Scotland after recent more difficult times.

I was pleased to set out some of the opportunities which are emerging, not least from the current proposals to bring established renewable technologies such as onshore wind back into the Contract for Difference process and the positive role onshore wind can play in the green economic recovery from COVID-19.

Along with my colleague Jamie Maxton, Head of External Affairs at SSE Renewables, who spoke in the second session of the day, we were pleased to acknowledge the strong political and policy support the industry has received from Scottish Government.

We also took the opportunity the talk about some of the barriers which onshore wind continues to face in Scotland, particularly in regard to the planning system.  We are pleased that the Scottish Government has recognised that responding to the climate emergency and help meet the net zero emissions target should be at the heart of the planning system.

The Scottish Government’s National Planning Framework (NPF), will be key to directing the planning system to this goal and SSE Renewables has called for the next update to identify tackling the current climate emergency as the principal and overarching policy consideration to which all other policies are subordinate.

In our view, the planning system should clearly signal that the priority of achieving Net Zero will entail a shift in the balance of planning judgement towards infrastructure necessary to meet Net Zero targets. We have suggested a number of policy changes to achieve this including: introducing a ‘presumption in favour’ of development that supports renewable energy targets, giving ‘National Development’ status to all renewable energy projects over 50MW as well as the associated infrastructure, and reforming the current spatial frameworks.

The implementation of NPF4 has now understandably been delayed until 2022, due to the current circumstances. However, this leaves a worrying gap before policy can be updated to reflect the First Minister’s declaration of a climate emergency and its vital that the Scottish Government acts now to address this.

We believe that an interim measure should be put in place to give a clear signal to planning authorities and other decision makers that development which helps tackle climate change should be prioritised. In our view, this should take the form of a letter from the Chief Planner, highlighting the declaration of a climate emergency and providing a presumption in favour of renewable energy development.

In doing so, we can unlock the green recovery opportunity that new onshore wind presents, creating and supporting direct and indirect new jobs especially in rural areas as we try to re-build a sustainable and resilient economy across Scotland and the UK.