THE Scottish Government’s wind-power drive was claimed to be in tatters today as it was revealed SNP targets for electricity generation and jobs will not be met.
An investigation by the public sector watchdog Audit Scotland found that the economic downturn has taken the wind out of the Nationalists’ pledges.
Anti-wind campaigners and renewable experts have claimed the report highlights the fallacies underpinning the SNP’s green energy policy.
And Scotland Against Spin called the government’s push for wind-power a “busted flush”.
Meanwhile, Scottish Tory energy spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “This shows that the Scottish Government renewables target is far too ambitious and the timescale is already slipping.”
But the government defended its policies, insisting it had made good progress and was on target to deliver on its pledges.
In a report published today, auditor general for Scotland Caroline Gardner warned that a lack of cash is the key issue for green energy.
And she said offshore developments have the greatest potential as they are more efficient than onshore centres – but they are experimental and require “billions of pounds” of private investment, which is thin on the ground.
“The main challenge is that private sector investment has been slower than expected, reflecting the state of the economy and the uncertainty of developments in the wider UK energy sector,” she added.
The investigation looked at public sector action and investment in developing renewable energy and what has been delivered to date.
The Scottish Government believes Scotland can be a world-leader in the field, with renewable resources meeting 30% of the country’s energy consumption by 2020, including the equivalent of all electricity demands.
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But the watchdog found green energy projects are progressing more slowly than expected due to the economy and changes in UK energy policy.
The report said the government had made “steady progress” towards renewable energy targets for 2020.
But it calculated that to meet the electricity target alone, there must be a sharp rise in the average annual increase in installed capacity – the maximum amount of power a given source can generate under ideal conditions.
Audit Scotland said the current growth rate will deliver about 10,900MW of installed capacity by 2020, at least 3,100MW short of what is required. “Achieving the 2020 target requires average annual increases in installed capacity of at least 1,250MW between 2015 and 2020 – double the rate achieved over the past five years,” it said. The Scottish Government expects offshore wind power to grow significantly over the next decade.
However, the report said the sector was a new industry that required billions of pounds of investment from the private sector. The ruling administration has estimated the renewable energy industry could provide £30billion investment to the Scottish economy and up to 40,000 jobs by the end of the decade.
But the report said the “least optimistic scenarios” suggest potential employment opportunities could be a third of this prediction, at around 13,000.
And while the government expects the offshore industry to deliver the majority of the economic benefits, Audit Scotland’s report said “they may not be realised as quickly as originally anticipated”. It said: “The current financial climate is making potential investors more cautious.
“Uncertainty over reforms to UK energy policy, the cost and reliability of new technologies and access to the national grid are also delaying investment decisions.”
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said the report shows that “strong and strategic leadership” in the renewable sector is key to the successes to date.
“We continue to make good progress and are on course to achieve our interim target of generating the equivalent of 50% of our gross electricity consumption from renewable sources in 2015,” he said.
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