Question reference: S6W-04070
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 27 October 2021
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 October 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of its plans for onshore wind in Scotland.
Answer
We intend to launch the consultation of the draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement later today, in line with the commitments we set out in the Programme for Government.
The consultative draft of the Policy Statement will be available to view on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802014990 from today and the consultation questions will be available on Citizen Space at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/onshore-wind-policy-statement-refresh-2021/ . The consultation will be live for 12 weeks from today until 21 January 2022.
The draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement (OnWPS) sets out the Scottish Government’s ambitions for onshore wind in Scotland out to 2030 in the context of our 2045 net zero emissions commitment. It outlines the huge potential for this technology, and assesses the significant economic opportunity of future deployment, particularly in light of green recovery aspirations. Scotland has excellent onshore wind expertise and is recognised as having one of the best wind regimes anywhere in the world in which to deploy projects.
The consultative draft of the OnWPS has been informed by stakeholder consultation and engagement and seeks views on specific questions, in particular on the Scottish Government ambition to secure an additional 8-12 Gigawatts of installed onshore wind capacity by 2030.