In reaction to a slump in the small-scale energy sector, ten member organisations have joined forces to call on the UK Government to set out the future of the Feed-in Tariff.
New figures released by the UK Government have shown a £5.5billion turnover from Scotland’s renewable energy sector and a 300% jobs increase s in 2016 in certain sectors.
The Young Professionals Green Energy Awards has announced that it will be including Scotland’s top renewable energy apprentice in its categories this year.
By Lindsay Roberts, senior policy manager, Scottish Renewables
Marine energy is a sector which has faced its fair share of ups and downs.
That said, there remains much to be positive about in both wave and tidal energy in Scotland.
Both industries have taken enormous strides forward in the last 12 months, and we are now closer to commercialisation than ever before.
New figures showing Scotland’s progress towards decarbonising electricity generation demonstrate the risks posed by removing support for the renewables industry earlier than planned, energy minister Fergus Ewing has said.
Renewable energy firms are at risk of “shutting up shop altogether” as a result of the early withdrawal of government subsidies, a Westminster committee has been told.
New research has shown for the first time that recent announcements from Whitehall are having a significant impact on investor confidence and their ability to lend to onshore wind farm developers.
Green-energy body Scottish Renewables (SR) is today publishing survey findings it says shows for the first time how UK Government policy is scaring off potential windfarm investors.
Confidence in the UK’s onshore wind sector has been further hit by hints that Westminster may remove the technology from the Government’s new competitive auction process, a renewables body has warned.
Niall Stuart, chief executive of trade body Scottish Renewables, said wind being blocked from the Contracts for Difference (CFD) scheme “would result in a massive and dramatic decline in development”.
Scottish Renewables revealed that, when asked whether onshore wind projects could access the new CFD auction, UK Energy Secretary Amber Rudd had told the House of Commons: “In respect of contracts for difference, we would be implementing the terms of our manifesto”.
This announcement came less than a week after Ms Rudd announced the early closure of the Renewables Obligation scheme, imperilling 250 onshore wind projects.
Speaking at his organisation’s Onshore Wind Conference in Edinburgh yesterday, Mr Stuart said: “Yesterday’s announcement serves to further undermine the confidence of Scotland’s onshore wind industry.
The RSPB has called for a judicial review after the Scottish Government gave consent for four offshore windfarms in the east of Scotland.
The charity mounted a legal challenge at the Court of Session in Edinburgh over permission granted last October for four Scottish territorial and round three wind farms.
The projects, in the Outer Forth and Tay, include Mainstream's 450MW Neart na Gaoithe, Repsol and EDP's 784MW Inch Cape and SSE and Fluor's 525MW Seagreen Alpha and 525MW Seagreen Bravo.