Scottish government urged to provide bespoke support for marine energy

The Scottish government has been urged to develop its own bespoke revenue support mechanism to help stimulate the country’s fledgling marine renewable energy sector.

In a paper, launched on Thursday (4 November) at the COP 26 conference, Scottish Renewables mapped out five key recommendations for accelerating the energy transition north of the border after the global climate change summit ends next week.

These include the Scottish government creating a dedicated creating a revenue support mechanism, focused on wave and tidal energy, to operate alongside the UK government’s Contracts for Difference regime.

The paper, entitled, ‘Beyond COP26: Next steps for Scotland’s clean energy revolution’, said a bespoke revenue support mechanism could help bring the sector to the next stage of its development.

It said marine renewables offer “enormous opportunities” to help decarbonise Scottish islands and coastal communities.

In such isolated areas, where increased electricity demand and ageing infrastructure is exacerbating concerns about grid capacity, the paper said wave and tidal energy can provide a predictable, low-carbon source of local energy.

These technologies could also to reduce the need for expensive transmission network upgrades by contributing to local power generation, according to the paper.

The renewables body also called for reforms to Scotland’s planning process to help deliver the Scottish government’s goal, outlined in a policy paper issued last week, to deliver at least 12GW of additional onshore wind by 2030.

It said the planning system needs to help meet Scotland’s ambition, which also includes 11GW of offshore wind by the end of the next decade, to enable the “abundant” resources of the “windiest nation in Europe” to power the UK and beyond.

Another recommendation is to accelerate the pace of decarbonising Scottish homes and buildings with a target to heat 45% of homes and 25% of commercial, industrial and public buildings from renewable sources by 2030. Currently, according to the paper, only 11% of Scotland’s heat comes from renewable sources.

The paper said its heat decarbonisation target can be delivered by accelerating the roll out of district heating networks across cities and towns and providing targeted support for island and rural communities through a dedicated fund.

The publication also called for 1GW of solar PV capacity by 2030 to be installed on all suitable public and commercial buildings, which would help tap the resources provided by Scotland’s long hours of summertime daylight.

Claire Mack, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: “Our world-leading wave and tidal energy industries can provide a predictable, low-carbon, local energy source too. Continuing the development of marine energy projects will play a key role in achieving net-zero islands and coastal communities which are generally using high carbon fuel sources for heat and transport and are impacted by limited grid capacity.