Mark Latham, Deputy Business Editor
Scotland should set a new target of generating half its total electricity,
heat and transport demand from renewables by 2030, according to industry
body Scottish Renewables.
Meeting the new goal – which is almost twice the EU’s 2030 target of 27 per
cent green energy generation – would, according to Scottish Renewables,
require a three-fold increase in the production of energy from renewable
sources.
The trade body is calling for the new target as part of its manifesto on
the future of renewable energy launched today ahead of May’s Scottish
Parliament elections.
Last month the Scottish Government declared an early success in its aim of
the country generating 50 per cent of its electricity consumption from
renewable sources by 2015.
Data released in December showed that the 2015 target was almost reached in
2014, when 49.7 per cent of electricity generation in Scotland came from
renewable sources – mostly from onshore wind and hydro schemes.
The already agreed 2020 target is for 100 per cent of Scotland’s
electricity to come from green sources, but with the UK Conservative
government having slashed many of the subsidies for renewable energy since
it came to power last May it is not clear whether that target will be met.
According to Scottish Renewables’ own estimates, Scotland is now unlikely
to meet its target of 100 per cent of gross annual consumption of
electricity by 2020 and is currently on track to reach 87 per cent.
The trade body predicts that Scotland will produce 8 per cent of its heat
and 9 per cent of its transport energy needs from green sources by 2020,
while the targets are 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, acknowledges that
increasing the proportion of Scotland’s energy to come from renewable
sources to 50 per cent by 2030 is ambitious but points to Sweden as an
example of a country which already sources half of all its energy from
renewables.
“Achieving this new target will require strategic leadership from the next
Scottish Government,” he said. “The development of a comprehensive and
joined-up energy strategy will allow the sector to maintain its
competitiveness as well as spearheading the development and deployment of
new technologies.”
“Not only will these measures support growth in the next chapter of our
industry, they will ensure that renewables can play a key role in meeting
Scotland’s climate change targets and maximise the jobs and investment that
our sector can bring to Scotland.”
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said that there had been good progress in
generating Scotland’s electricity needs from renewable sources but more now
needs to be done to increase the amount of renewable energy used for heat
and transport.
1 Comment