Renewable Energy

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 17 September 2015.

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Photo of Fergus Ewing Fergus Ewing Scottish National Party

I have enjoyed moments of this debate. I will try to respond to some of the specific points that were put, although that I fear it will not be possible to respond to them all.

I agreed with a great deal of what Sarah Boyack said. To respond to her point about doing more on local energy systems, we are already encouraging such systems. We are encouraging a mix of technologies in relation to storage, which she specifically mentioned, in the ground-breaking community and renewable energy scheme—CARES—local energy challenge fund demonstrator projects, which are being funded this year through a £20 million fund. Each is a ground-breaking, innovative project, and some fall into the categories that Ms Boyack would support.

Sarah Boyack also mentioned permitted development rights. We already have permitted development rights for some air-source heat pumps, but she mentioned extending them to solar power. As I might have said already, if she wishes to write to me on that matter, I will give it serious consideration. We come at these issues from the same direction, and it behoves us to work together where there is common ground. I pledge that we will certainly do that.

Sarah Boyack rose—

I am really sorry, but I would like to try and cover as many points from the debate as I can before I make some final comments.

Patrick Harvie was kind enough to acknowledge the achievement today of the community energy target. We are proud that we in Scotland have achieved the target of 500MW of community schemes, which appeared ambitious when we set it. I acknowledge that much work was done with the support of colleagues in the Labour Party, the Liberal party and the Green Party. To respond to his specific request, now that we have achieved that target, it is sensible that we establish what it is appropriate to achieve in the future. We have high ambitions, as does he, so we will give careful consideration to the matters that he raised.

I acknowledge Mr McArthur’s long-standing commitment to renewables. I agreed with a great deal of what he said, although it was a little bit ironic that he berated me for making critical remarks about the UK Government, which he said later in his speech was acting in a “cavalier” fashion. I will not be churlish, so I will not say any more about the matter than that.

Suffice it to say—this is the most important point—that we try to develop as much common ground as possible in Scotland on energy. The challenge that we face is that the Scottish consensus on energy policy does not appear to match the London agenda. That is the predicament that we face. I will set out components of that Scottish consensus.

First, we need much more emphasis on energy efficiency and demand reduction. Of course that applies to our estate too, so we have announced our intention to do much more in public buildings.

Secondly, we need many more energy storage solutions at transmission and household level. For example, the SSE Coire Glas scheme that I consented and the Cruachan scheme would offer tremendous additional pump storage capacity. However, National Grid does not appear to recognise the benefits of pump storage.

I invited National Grid to look at the issue at an industry leadership group meeting that I co-chaired. If we are increasingly looking towards a low-carbon electricity generation system, with forms of energy that are intermittent, including hydro and wind—although they are a very good fit—storage solutions are necessary to provide the equivalent back-up and baseload to what we have had in the past.

I have always argued, although frequently Mr Fraser does not seem to recognise this in his speeches, that we need a variety of sources of electricity generation. Indeed, I have previously quoted Winston Churchill, who said that when it comes to the problem of electricity generation for a country, the solution is “variety and variety alone.”

Murdo Fraser rose—

I see that the mention of Winston Churchill has roused Mr Fraser.