Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 29 March 2012
29 Mar 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Local Energy Companies
The city of Aberdeen is recognised as the oil and gas capital of Europe, and my constituency of Aberdeenshire West hopes to become the renewables capital. That is our mantra.
It is important that big business supports the renewables industry and uses its expert knowledge, skills and workforce to take it forward. There are many good community projects in Aberdeenshire West. For instance, as I mentioned in the chamber a couple of weeks ago, Grampian Housing Association and Huntly Development Trust have come together to work on a wind turbine project to generate local power for the community. The money that will be generated in the community will go into building affordable houses and other projects in the community. The project is wholly community owned. It is community based, community driven and community supported.
Also in my constituency, in Hill of Banchory, within the next eight to 10 weeks a biomass heating scheme will come on stream, which will support more than 600 houses, using the natural resources in the area’s woodland estates. That is the way forward: local communities taking ownership and benefiting from such projects.
Since 2007, the Scottish Government has given at least 800 grants to community projects. That is progress. That is about supporting community initiatives. Although, as far as I know, Aberdeenshire Council has no plans to become an owner of local renewable energy suppliers, it has been involved in supporting communities. I give Patrick Harvie an assurance that I am happy to engage with Aberdeenshire Council to see what more it can do on renewables and support for community initiatives in Aberdeenshire West.
The small community of Finzean, which I am probably the first to mention in the chamber—it is a word I like saying—has a fantastic community renewables project: a biomass system that supports its village hall. It also benefits from three water mills that have been there since the 19th century and which have heritage status. They continue to operate, and the energy and power that they generate support the sawmills that provide the fuel for the community’s biomass system.
There is a lot to be said for community ownership, and I endorse the communities that have done that in my constituency. Again, I say to Mr Harvie that I will engage with Aberdeenshire Council and I am happy to engage with him to take that agenda forward.
11:04
It is important that big business supports the renewables industry and uses its expert knowledge, skills and workforce to take it forward. There are many good community projects in Aberdeenshire West. For instance, as I mentioned in the chamber a couple of weeks ago, Grampian Housing Association and Huntly Development Trust have come together to work on a wind turbine project to generate local power for the community. The money that will be generated in the community will go into building affordable houses and other projects in the community. The project is wholly community owned. It is community based, community driven and community supported.
Also in my constituency, in Hill of Banchory, within the next eight to 10 weeks a biomass heating scheme will come on stream, which will support more than 600 houses, using the natural resources in the area’s woodland estates. That is the way forward: local communities taking ownership and benefiting from such projects.
Since 2007, the Scottish Government has given at least 800 grants to community projects. That is progress. That is about supporting community initiatives. Although, as far as I know, Aberdeenshire Council has no plans to become an owner of local renewable energy suppliers, it has been involved in supporting communities. I give Patrick Harvie an assurance that I am happy to engage with Aberdeenshire Council to see what more it can do on renewables and support for community initiatives in Aberdeenshire West.
The small community of Finzean, which I am probably the first to mention in the chamber—it is a word I like saying—has a fantastic community renewables project: a biomass system that supports its village hall. It also benefits from three water mills that have been there since the 19th century and which have heritage status. They continue to operate, and the energy and power that they generate support the sawmills that provide the fuel for the community’s biomass system.
There is a lot to be said for community ownership, and I endorse the communities that have done that in my constituency. Again, I say to Mr Harvie that I will engage with Aberdeenshire Council and I am happy to engage with him to take that agenda forward.
11:04
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith)
Lab
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-02523, in the name of Patrick Harvie, on local energy companies. 10:25
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
When the Greens bring motions to the chamber for debate, we usually take what we laughingly call a soft-and-spiky approach. We lodge one consensual and const...
Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
SNP
The Aberdeen combined heat and power scheme has got it right in my opinion. In part, the expansion in recent times has been down to the £1 million grant that...
Patrick Harvie
Green
That gets to one of the central issues. There should not be insistence, but there should be strong and compelling leadership at local and central Government ...
The Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism (Fergus Ewing)
SNP
I am delighted to accept the invitation in the wording of the motion to reaffirm Scotland’s commitment to its ambitious, world-leading climate change targets...
Patrick Harvie
Green
I am glad that the minister mentions the 500MW target. It includes local ownership, and not just community ownership. My motion is about community and public...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
We clearly and explicitly want to encourage communities to own renewables schemes. There is no dubiety about that so far as I am aware. That is the best mode...
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD)
LD
I do not play down any of the problems and complexities that the minister has outlined. However, community development trusts have got into the market in rec...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
Those are suppliers of capacity, not retailers of electricity—there is a difference.We are happy to look carefully at the emerging possibilities. The current...
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
I very much welcome the debate on local energy companies and hope that it will stimulate action. We will not all agree on everything, but I suspect that ther...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Will Ms Boyack give way?
Sarah Boyack
Lab
No—I have only one minute left.I welcome the minister’s support for our amendment. We believe that it is crucial that the Government comes back to Parliament...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
I call Mary Scanlon, who has a strict five minutes.10:48
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I, too, thank the Scottish Green Party for bringing the debate to the Parliament. I agree with most of Patrick Harvie’s motion—I am sure that he can guess th...
Mike MacKenzie (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)
SNP
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to a community conference on the island of Gigha, just after the people there had switched on their three w...
Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Will the member take an intervention?
Mike MacKenzie
SNP
No, I have only four minutes.Little Scotland can, by becoming the world’s laboratory, make an unparalleled contribution to mankind in solving the problem of ...
Patrick Harvie
Green
Will the member give way?
Mike MacKenzie
SNP
No, I am sorry—I have only two minutes.Business excels at investing in new technology, and if we are to fulfil those targets and achieve all the benefits tha...
Mark Griffin (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I hope and believe that the Parliament will reaffirm Scotland’s ambitious targets on climate change and renewable energy, and I am happy to continue to commi...
Mike MacKenzie
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Mark Griffin
Lab
I am sorry, but I am tight for time.It is right that we should push for the creation of public energy companies that are publicly owned and publicly controll...
Dennis Robertson (Aberdeenshire West) (SNP)
SNP
The city of Aberdeen is recognised as the oil and gas capital of Europe, and my constituency of Aberdeenshire West hopes to become the renewables capital. Th...
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD)
LD
I, too, congratulate the less spiky, new-style Patrick Harvie on bringing the debate to the chamber, and confirm that his motion and Sarah Boyack’s amendment...
Mike MacKenzie
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Liam McArthur
LD
I am sorry, but I do not have enough time.Patrick Harvie is right: we need to do more to demonstrate how the renewables agenda can and will serve the common ...
Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
SNP
I, too, thank Patrick Harvie for bringing the issue of local energy companies to the chamber for an important debate.We should remind ourselves of the Govern...
John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
I disagree with Patrick Harvie; he has not been confrontational this morning—I am sure that members who remember debates on similar subjects in the previous ...
Mary Scanlon
Con
In my opening speech, I highlighted good and bad experience. Caithness Heat and Power could have benefited from the advice that is now available from Highlan...
Mike MacKenzie
SNP
Will the member give way?