Continued Support For Islands' Energy Potential

The UK and Scottish governments have confirmed their ongoing support towards delivering the renewable energy potential of the Scottish islands.

The reaffirmation comes following the third meeting of the Scottish Island Renewables Delivery Forum.

At the meeting, Ed Davey, the UK's Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said he recognised the importance to developers of government support for renewable energy projects with long lead times, and as a result, the DECC intend to announce further strike prices for a number of technologies for 2019/20 and 2020/21 in July, including Scottish islands onshore wind.

He added that the government would work with the EU in an attempt to secure State Aid approval. These actions could help unlock further opportunities for island developers to apply for contracts-for-difference (CfD) support later this year.


In addition to the above, both governments agreed to continue efforts to deliver a research and development funding proposal in order to secure future grid access for marine technologies on Orkney.

Commenting on the developments, Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism, Fergus Ewing said: "I am delighted that the UK and Scottish Governments have agreed a joint statement of intent, and that the Secretary of State has committed to publishing important information in July on availability of support.

"This announcement will be a huge boost for developers, and of course for the island councils who have pushed hard to secure this commitment. It signals a clear demonstration of political will that the transmission owner and the regulator have stated is necessary to progress the case for the island grid links.

"I have made connecting the Scottish islands a top priority because of the enormous clean and affordable energy potential, but also because of the substantial opportunity for island communities to benefit.

"This is a significant step towards realising our joint ambitions and we will look to drive forward further progress through the Delivery Forum, which will convene again in the spring."

(JP/IT)