Chamber and committees

The ScotWind process is administered by Crown Estate Scotland and therefore Crown Estate Scotland is the body who has the responsibility to undertake all relevant checks.

The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 are currently being developed and expected to be laid in the Scottish Parliament on 31 March 2022. Supporting guidance contained in the technical handbooks will be published in the Spring.

Budget allocations are agreed and published as part of the annual Scottish Budget process, with option fee income expected to be recognised over a number of years, to a maximum of ten years in line with the lease period.

To date a prudent estimate of ScotWind fees has been included in the 2022-23 budget of circa £41 million. The total figure will be finalised once leasing payment recognition has been confirmed.

These monies support the 2022-23 budget and underpin projects set out within the budget in line with the Programme for Government commitment to invest some of the ScotWind revenues to help tackle the twin crises of biodiversity and climate change as we transition to Net Zero.

As stated in the recent Programme for Government, some of the ScotWind revenues will be utilised for actions which tackle the twin crises of biodiversity and climate change, creating a legacy for the future, and some monies have already been identified to underpin projects in the 2022-23 budget in line with this commitment. Beyond these monies Scottish Ministers will consider carefully how the ScotWind revenues should be invested to maximise the benefits to the people of Scotland.

My officials met with UK Government and the UK Atomic Energy Agency officials on 1 February 2022. UK Government officials provided an outline of the objectives of the competition and the likely timelines for the conclusion of the site selection process. My officials will continue discussions with UK Government and UK Atomic Energy Agency Officials as required.

The Draft Hydrogen Action plan public consultation closed on the 26 th January 2022. All responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence and will feed into the final Hydrogen Action Plan due to be published later in 2022.

The Scottish Government will publish the responses within 3 months of the consultation closing date of the 26 January 2022. Consultation responses will be analysed and will inform the final Hydrogen Action Plan and the scope of the £100m funding programme, due to be launched this year.

The Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) provides free advice, and loan and grant funding, with up to £8.25M made available this financial year (2021-22) to assist community groups in developing renewable energy projects, supporting the growth of community and locally owned energy in Scotland.

The Scottish Government launched a ‘Let’s Do Net Zero Community Buildings’ funding call last year which received 85 applications for support. Planning for support that CARES will provide in 2022/2023 is currently underway and a greater focus and priority will be given to decarbonisation, including for heat in buildings.

CARES also offers an enablement grant of up to £25,000 as well as funding for connections to district heating schemes that are powered fully or partially by a renewable source of energy. Funding of up to £5,000 (75% grant and 25% loan) is available per connection.

Funding is also being made available through CARES to help communities in rural and island areas develop cleaner, greener and cheaper energy.

The investment will empower communities which operate existing local independent grid electricity systems to develop local, independent climate-friendly electricity supplies. £3 million is being made available to develop projects in 2022-23, and expressions of interest to the fund, administered by Local Energy Scotland, closed on 31 January 2022.

Scotland has long been a net exporter of electricity. In 2020, Scotland exported 20.4 TWh, equivalent to powering every household in Scotland for 26 months.

We expect that we will maintain our position as a net exporter even as demand from electrification of heat and transport increases particularly given the recent announcement by Crown Estate Scotland to offer option agreements to support the development of 25GW of offshore wind power.

This is consistent with the forecasts from National Grid’s Electricity Ten Year Statement as well as the recently published Network Options Assessment.

National Grid ESO has also conducted a study of the effects of the earlier than expected closure of nuclear generation in Scotland which concludes that the system will remain secure.

In order to meet Net-Zero, our priority continues to be to support energy efficiency, develop Scotland’s huge renewable resource and to promote storage and flexibility.

Scotland will continue to play a leading role in the Under2 Coalition and we will use our position as co-chair to drive climate ambition and delivery from all non-party governments, states and regions towards net zero, which prioritises a just transition and a resilient future.

This includes playing a leadership role within the Coalition to increase support for the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration, which Scotland was the first government to commit to. We are also progressing its aim within Scotland ahead of COP27 through:

• the Good Food Nation Bill introduced to Parliament in October 2021,
• further development of our local food strategy following public consultation in late 2021, and
• working with the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership to support progress towards the Scottish Food and Drink Sectors Industry Net Zero Commitment launched at COP26.