Scottish government’s windfarm squeeze could jeopardise renewables target
The Scottish government may have to try and meet its ambitious renewable energy targets without onshore wind. The government yesterday proposed stricter planning regulations which would significantly curb where windfarms can be built.
Scotland’s Planning Minister, Derek Mackay, said the proposals would “ensure developments go in the right place”, while a Scotsman frontpage said the plans effectively meant a “windfarm ban for Scotland’s wilderness”. If the plans get through, reducing the possible sites for windfarms will make it harder for the country to reach its target of meeting 100 per cent of its electricity demand from renewables by 2020.
Squeezing space
The new regulations would significantly limit the number of locations available to build new windfarms.
Under the proposals, developers would be banned from putting windfarms on national parks. They would also have to jump through a number of new regulatory hoops to build on designated wild lands. As the map below shows, wild lands cover around 20 per cent of Scotland – meaning the amount of available land for windfarm developments would be significantly reduced.
Image - Scotland planning (note)
Source: Scottish National Heritage, Mapping Scotland’s wildness and wild land
The chief executive of conservation campaigners the John Muir Trust, Stuart Brooks, said the plans show the “Scottish Government now recognises the importance of wild land as an important part of our cultural heritage and international profile”.
Wild lands won’t represent the only no-go area for windfarms, however. The proposals also increase the separation distance between windfarms and villages, towns or cities from two kilometers to 2.5 kilometers, further reducing the area available for new developments.
Required separation distances are controversial. Wiltshire County Council last year passed measures to impose a separation distance citing the evidence of anti-windfarm campaigners Caithness Windfarm Information Forum, which claims they’re needed to “protect the public” from wind turbine failures – though we have previously found some of its recommendations are on shaky ground. Lincolnshire County Council previously called for a 10 kilometer separation zone to be imposed.
Jenny Hogan, Director of Policy for trade association Scottish Renewables, tells us the Scottish government’s proposed increase in the separation distance is “due to advances in wind turbine technology creating larger structures with a corresponding visual impact”. She says it’s important to note “the separation distances are a form of guidance rather than blanket restrictions”, and that local councils can approve windfarms within the distance if they consider them to be safe and beneficial to the community.
Indeed, the Scottish Conservatives have complained the plans don’t go far enough. MSP Murdo Fraser says the plans “will result in even more pressure for the remaining 80 per cent of the country which won’t be spared through these guidelines”.
The argument is set to rumble on as the proposals are now open for comment. Mackay remains hopeful, however, saying the process will allow all sides to ” come together” to agree their priorities.
100 per cent renewables without onshore wind?
Shortly after coming to power in 2011, Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, raised the government’s renewable energy target to provide for the equivalent of 100 per cent of electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020.
Onshore wind is key to meeting that target – it currently accounts for over half of Scotland’s renewable electricity capacity. But the new proposals would seriously limit the potential for new developments and it’s not clear what the government’s backup plan is. Hogan says:
“Onshore wind is absolutely key to meeting Scotland’s climate change and renewable energy targets and excluding large areas of the country suitable for wind farms could potentially slow progress to achieving these objectives” .
Some industry sources have speculated the government does not intend to put itself in a position to choose between the two. They suggest the Scottish Nationalist Party is floating more populist policy proposals in the buildup to the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, without necessarily intending to follow them through.
The government says it wants to protect the environment but not at the expense of increasing renewables capacity, however. A government spokesperson tells us:
“Although additional protection is being proposed, the [plan] also sets out further guidance to encourage local authorities to identify more clearly where wind energy development would be suitable. The policy does not aim to restrict development overall, but to balance it with our ongoing commitment to protecting the environment.”
Whatever the end result of the consultation, siting windfarms remains a crucial topic in the energy policy debate. Governments and local authorities will have to work hard to balance local considerations with the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions as renewables deployment ramps up.