Question reference: S5W-20559
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 12 December 2018 Registered interest
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Current status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 January 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what contribution it anticipates to emissions reduction and renewable heat targets for domestic and non-domestic buildings envisaged in its Energy Strategy and Climate Change plan will be derived from (a) electric heat pumps, (b) biomass heating systems and (c) district heating.
Answer
Scotland’s Climate Change Plan sets out an ambitious trajectory for decarbonising heat, where, by 2032, low carbon heat would supply 35% of domestic buildings’ heat and 70% of non-domestic buildings’ heat. Our Energy Strategy further commits us to ensuring that by 2030, the equivalent of 50% of the total energy for Scotland’s heat, transport and electricity consumption would be supplied from renewable sources. As of 2017, between 5.9% and 6.1% of Scotland’s non-electrical heat demand was already being met by renewable sources.
As we acknowledged in the Scottish Energy Strategy, the structure of Scotland’s energy system will look significantly different in 2050 with the mix of technologies deployed depending on how we collectively respond to challenges and opportunities along the way. We anticipate our energy system will be more diverse and well-balanced than at present, so as to better support the supply of clean and affordable heat. As such, at this stage we have not sought to produce estimates for specific technologies. However, our proposed Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) will soon allow our partners in local government to take an evidence-based approach to identifying the most appropriate energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation solutions.
In response to the statutory advice from the Committee on Climate Change, we are focusing on prioritising those ‘low regrets’ heat decarbonisation options that fall within our powers. These are measures that will continue to make sense regardless of what types of decisions the UK Government will take on the future of the gas grid, which as you know is a reserved matter. Among other actions, we are:
- promoting energy efficiency to cut the heat demand in buildings through Energy Efficient Scotland and associated measures such as the development of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) ;
- supporting district heating, through our District Heating Loan Fund and by taking leading steps to regulate networks ahead of the rest of the UK; and
- planning how we can best support the installation of low carbon heat in off-gas grid areas, a process starting with a call for evidence in January 2019.