The trade body for Scotland’s renewable-energy industry is calling on MPs to deliver a “green bond” to encourage public investment in the sector.
Scottish Renewables (SR) wants the next government in London after the 2015 general-election to make it a priority.
The idea is to allow savers to generate returns from the growth of the UK’s green-energy industry, while providing developers with the cash they need to get projects up and running.
SR chief executive Niall Stuart said: “The UK needs to invest tens of billions of pounds in the energy sector over the coming years, firstly just to keep the lights on and secondly to continue the move away from fossil fuels to cleaner sources of energy.
“New power generation, transmission lines and renewable heat projects all require big capital investment up front but could offer savers a decent return on their money over the life of the project, certainly beating the record low interest rates on savings accounts today.
“There are already some specialist investment funds available on the stock market and to big investors, and they show that the model works.
“But it’s time to give every saver in Britain the opportunity to invest in and to benefit from the continued growth of the green-energy sector.”
He added: “Creation of a green bond would make it easy for people to participate, and also reduce the levels of cash that the country would have to seek from overseas funds to invest in our infrastructure.
“It would also be a great way to widen engagement with this new industry as government seeks to increase levels of community ownership and investment.”
SR suggests the Edinburgh-based Green Investment Bank could oversee such a scheme.
In a “manifesto” of its priorities for the next Westminster government, SR also sets out the case for MPs’ continued support for the sector through continued efforts to cut harmful CO2 emissions from the energy industry.
It also wants a greater focus on renewable-energy powered heat and transport, new elecricity grid connections for the islands and more investment in energy storage.
In addition, the document seeks to establish a triennial energy summit between the UK and devolved administrations as well as further debate on the merits of moving subsidies for renewables and nuclear energy away from consumers’ bills and into general public spending.
Mr Stuart said: “Despite our energy prices being among the lowest in Europe, Scotland and the UK face a real challenge with fuel poverty.
“Support for renewables is a small part of the average householder’s bill – around 70p a week – but that could be cut to zero if the costs were met from general taxation instead.
“We could then look at funding support for renewables at least in part from existing levies on carbon emissions.
“Scotland will generate more than half of its electricity demand from renewables next year, thanks to the growth of onshore wind.
“It is the cheapest renewable technology that can be deployed at scale today, costs are coming down all the time and it supports thousands of jobs across the country.
“Why would we not want to see further expansion of the sector?”
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