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The Scottish government will cut the renewable obligation (RO) support for big biomass plant that do not operate as combined heat and power (CHP) stations.

Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing plans to remove the RO support for all wood fuelled biomass stations that have a capacity of more than 15MW and do not provide CHP. The new RO tariff is set to come into force on 1 April 2013.

The move aims to protect the “finite supply of wood” available, with Ewing saying “there should be a greater focus on biomass in smaller scale energy projects wherever possible”.

When stations lose their CHP status, they will have up to five years to regain it before they lose the RO eligibility.

The Scottish government has also confirmed it will mirror the UK government with its support for building and ground mounted PV.

Building mounted PV will received 1.7 RO certificates, falling to 1.4 between 2013 and 2017; while ground mounted PV will get 1.6 falling to 1.2 over the same period.