Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to encouraging and providing support to community and individual green projects. Advice and funding support is available to community groups and organisations looking to explore their renewable energy options through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) delivered by Local Energy Scotland on our behalf. Since its inception CARES has supported over 600 renewable energy project across Scotland, making over £51 million in funding support available.

The Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme(LCITP) has supported a number of projects to develop investment grade business cases and provide capital support for a range of low carbon demonstrator projects under an open call process. The LCITP launches funding calls periodically, these are dependent on budget demand and budget availability.

Through the publication of the Scottish Hydrogen Policy Statement in December, the Scottish Government committed to develop a focused programme of research, innovation and demonstration of technologies and systems along the entire hydrogen value chain to assist the development of the hydrogen and fuel cell sector in Scotland. To complement this and the rest of commitments made in the policy statement, £100 million funding, under the £180 million Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, will be dedicated over the next five years to help accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy in Scotland. The Hydrogen Action Plan which will be delivered this year will provide further detail on the planned approach and necessary actions to implement the policy positions outlined in the Policy Statement.

Additionally, this year we will be launching a new support framework for energy technology innovation which will include a strong focus on hydrogen.