FiT uncertainty thwarts hydro

Ahead of Scottish Renewables' Hydro Conference on May 8, Chief Executive Claire Mack reflects on her trip to Scotland's busiest national park last year, where she found Feed-in Tariff hydro ambitions being thwarted by degressions and uncertainty around the scheme's future.

In the heart of Scotland’s busiest national park, the turbines of 35 Feed-in Tariff-scale hydro projects are quietly spinning.

The guardians of some of Scotland’s most protected landscape have recognised the benefits renewable energy can bring.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park covers 720 square miles of moor, mountain, forest and loch – and is already home to our second most powerful hydropower station, SSE’s Sloy.

Now more smaller schemes, led by the park authority and local communities, are taking to the hills.

I was invited to see the work happening within one of Scotland’s most well-known, beautiful and sensitively developed areas, and came away marvelling at this microcosm of the transformation that’s underway in our energy system.

Energy generation is moving away from highly concentrated, practically invisible (aside from the belches of carbon pushed into the atmosphere), big box generation to something more visible and, quite literally, closer to home.

The burning bridge of climate change means that we need to find our way to new energy generation solutions quickly.

That doesn’t mean a turbine or PV panel on every inch of the landscape, but it does mean being realistic about the opportunities presented by Scotland’s weather, geography, location and skillset.

While onshore wind isn’t right for the national park, I heard during my visit how the park authority wanted their area and their people to be included in the renewables revolution, and have worked to build renewable capacity within the park.

The key source of generation is small-scale hydro, which is perfectly suited to this region of heavy rainfall and steep-sided valleys.

The approach to planning in the park is holistic.

National park management knew they wanted to help residents generate secure, sustainable, clean power. And, crucially, that they have the planning controls and community trust needed to achieve their ambitions.

This structure really supports broader social outcomes, enabling the bringing together of all the elements required to genuinely achieve the sort of sustainable growth which is front and centre in the Scottish Government’s first Energy Strategy.

This microcosm represents a key part of Scottish Renewables’ ask of the Scottish Government in its deliberations over the future of the planning system.

The Planning (Scotland) Bill was published in December 2017 and we remain concerned that our messages about what needs to change in order for our industry to deliver on energy and climate change targets still haven’t been heard.

The ambitions of the Energy Strategy will require explicit changes to the Planning Bill if they are to be realised.

Some of this will be picked up by the proposed national strategic approach and greater flexibility in the Local Development Plans, but the need for our Scottish Energy Strategy to dovetail with our planning framework is critical.

It's also critical that government use the fiscal levers at its disposal, including on Business Rates, to ensure that sustainable, popular and valuable renewable energy technologies can survive in what are challenging times for the industry.

Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park has used its LIVE philosophy – Learn, Invest, Visit and Experience – to define its mission and distinct geographic planning role to enable those 35 operational small hydro schemes, with more potential in the pipeline.

Their renewable energy capacity provides enough electricity to meet the requirements of all households in the park.

The key stumbling block to future development sits with the UK Government.

Uncertainty over the future of the Feed-in Tariff sees these commercially marginal but social and economic inclusion heavyweights in limbo – this graph from the park authority shows a clear cliff-edge in the number of run-of-river hydro schemes which have deployed since tariff degressions in 2014.

This reduction in Feed-in Tariff support simply doesn’t fit with the stated aims of the Industrial and Clean Growth Strategies with their focus on creating “a more productive economy that works for everyone across the UK”.

There has never been a more pressing reason for both governments to take stock and look across their policy portfolios to ensure that stated policy will meet with stated aims and objectives.