Question reference: S6W-00727
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 16 June 2021
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 July 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the electricity load that can currently be supplied to the City of Edinburgh; what the estimated load would be if every vehicle registered in the city was electric and had to be charged; what the (a) existing and (b) anticipated sources of such electrical power are, and what the estimated costs are to upgrade the city’s power supply infrastructure to meet the anticipated load required for the future.
Answer
We do not hold this information centrally. However, we do have a close collaborative relationship with the owner of the electricity network in the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Power Distribution (SPD).
SPD has developed and published Distribution Future Energy Scenarios (DFES), which consider various decarbonisation routes to achieve Scotland’s Net Zero targets. These incorporate a 100% transition of cars / small commercial vehicles to full Electric Vehicles (EVs), including between 240,000-310,000 in Edinburgh by 2050.
SPD’s DFES anticipates growth in demand from customers on its Edinburgh distribution network to double by 2050, with 40% of this related to growth in EVs, as well as heat demand. Meeting this extra demand will need a combination of traditional network reinforcements but also flexibility from other energy resources (e.g. generators and battery storage).
SPD’s high level estimate is that this will require between £150-400 million investment in its Edinburgh network by 2050. The actual scale of investment will ultimately be driven by the technologies adopted by customers and the ways in which they are used.
SPD is currently preparing a draft business plan for investment across all of its distribution networks. The Scottish Government will continue to work with SPD, as well as with Scotland’s other network owners and Ofgem, to ensure that our energy and climate change commitments and targets are fully reflected in these plans and the investment that they will require.