Question reference: S5W-31945
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 22 September 2020
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Current status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 26 October 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) commercial energy companies and (b) community energy projects received support from the Energy Investment Fund in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20.
Answer
In 2018-19, the Energy Investment Fund supported 4 commercial energy companies/projects in the marine and energy efficiency sectors, investing £2.25m with total leverage of £5.38m, and 1 community energy project, investing £0.6m with total leverage of £2.8m.
In 2019-20, the Energy Investment Fund supported 2 commercial energy companies/projects in the marine energy and low carbon biofuel sectors, investing
£8.6m with total leverage of £14.9m , and 1 community energy project investing £1.3m, with total leverage of £4.9m.
The Energy Investment Fund is only one of several sources of Scottish Government funding for renewables, for example, since its inception the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme has supported nearly 600 community and locally owned projects throughout Scotland offering funding of over £50 m. In the past two years alone CARES has offered funding of over £2.5 m to over 80 projects.