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Meeting of the Parliament 18 June 2013

18 Jun 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Hydro Power

McDougall, Margaret Lab West Scotland Watch on SPTV

No. I will not turn around and blame the UK Government; there are things that we can do in Scotland.

Supplying 100 per cent of Scotland’s energy from renewable energy sources by 2020 is an ambitious target that we are on track to meet. Staying on track will require hard work and support from communities and businesses, as well as the Scottish Government. Pursuing the 2020 target vigorously is important because of the benefits not only to the environment but to families across Scotland who are suffering from fuel poverty and unfairness in our energy market.

That is especially true of small-scale community projects. Community ownership of renewables can bring economic benefits to an area as well as boost local support and commitment to renewable energy initiatives. Therefore, I am pleased to note that the motion appreciates the benefit of enabling local ownership of at least 500MW of renewable energy by 2020.

I would like more to be done to maximise the number of identified potential sites for hydro power plants that come to fruition. The example of the Welsh Labour Government shows that, when communities are brought into planning and decision making and are given a say in the development of renewables projects in their area, hydro power projects can thrive and benefit the community through reinvestment in community projects of the income that those schemes generate.

However, I sound a note of caution about community ownership. I welcome the community benefits of renewables, but there are times when more rigorous controls should be exerted over large energy businesses, to ensure that they do not attempt to bully communities into supporting extensions of renewables projects.

I have come across one example of that in my region in relation to a wind energy project. A wind farm company used the relationship that it had built with local people—through providing grants to local areas and schools—to coerce families into supporting an increase in turbine planning applications. That emphasises the importance of ensuring that community schemes truly have community benefit, as well as environmental benefit, at their heart.

Importantly, the Scottish Government has said:

“Locational charging means Scottish generators produce about 12% of UK generation but account for 40% of the transmission costs, or about £100 million per year more than generators in the South.”

In considering the Scottish Government report “Low Carbon Scotland: Meeting our Emissions Reduction Targets 2013-2027: The Draft Second Report on Proposals and Policies” at the beginning of the year, the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, of which I am a member, expressed frustration about grid delays and problems with hydro power’s connection to the grid on Scottish islands. The situation clearly damages the viability of small-scale hydro power projects. The Scottish Government could commit to doing more to promote connection to the grid across the country, which would allow for better and more widespread development of hydro power.

In 2011, hydro power stations produced 5,331.8GWh of electricity, which was 10.4 per cent of the total electricity generated in Scotland—51,223GWh. The report “Scottish Hydropower Resource Study” states:

“The total financially viable resource in Scotland was found to be 657 MW installed capacity, the output of which would be 2.98 TWh of electricity per year.”

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Meeting of the Parliament 18 June 2013

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