Question reference: S4W-28898
- Asked by: Rob Gibson, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 9 December 2015
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Current status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 January 2016
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many windfarm applications have been refused on the grounds of wild land in the last three years and what the impact was in terms of potential (a) megawatts, (b) community benefit, (c) the amount of carbon that would have been displaced, (d) investment in the area and (e) jobs.
Answer
Wind farms of 50 megawatts or more are determined by Scottish Ministers through the Electricity Act 1989, those of less than 50 megawatts are determined by planning authorities under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended). Planning applications are generally determined by planning authorities in Scotland and the information requested is not held centrally.
In relation to decisions under the Electricity Act, the requested information on the impacts and benefits of individual wind farm applications is not routinely collated, however all the wind farm application decision letters are available from the Scottish Government’s energy and consents webpage http://www.energyconsents.scot/.