Article
Scottish Political Consensus on Decentralised Energy?
A political consensus appears to have emerged during the 2007 election campaign for the Scottish Parliament that Decentralised Energy should play an important part in any future energy strategy.
Labour said it would encourage local authorities to develop decentralised energy companies and schemes and that greater use should be made of Combined Heat and Power. It would also ensure that all new houses are built to higher energy efficiency standards incorporating micro-generation technologies as standard, and ensure new public sector buildings include micro-renewable energy wherever they can. It would make it easier for householders to install small-scale micro-renewables, and give local tax reductions for households and businesses playing their part in tackling climate change.
The Liberal Democrats would create local power in every community, including combined heat and power, district heating systems, air and ground heat pumps, microrenewables, biomass, storage cells, smart grid technology, a network of hydrogen fuel pumps, and support for innovative hydrogen storage systems. The Party says the forthcoming closures of power plants in Scotland is a strategic opportunity to remodel our electricity system on a more decentralised basis. The manifesto said Scotland should provide 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050. The Liberal Democrats would extend support to businesses to invest in energy efficiency and microgeneration. The Party said it wants to put Scotland at the lead of a micropower revolution. All new homes should have microgeneration, and from 2010 all new buildings - private and public - should use onsite micropower to generate at least a fifth of the building’s energy. Planning rules would be changed to make it easier to install microrenewables by making them permitted development.
The SNP will support higher building standards, new efforts to improve energy efficiency and the development of community and household generation with decentralisation of generation capacity and the development of local heat and power grids. Community Energy Plans will be developed to allow local communities to identify and set their own local renewable needs and then contract with energy suppliers to deliver community based energy generation and energy saving solutions. The Party will encourage the establishment of community energy companies with local micro-grids allowing for the decentralisation of energy production, and will remove unnecessary planning obstacles that stand in the way of micro-generation. The SNP will quadruple the financial support for family and community micro-generation schemes, and ensure there is a renewable capability in every public building. In government the SNP will set out proposals to ensure there is a renewable capability in each public building starting with a commitment to renewable generation in every Scottish school.
The Greens would go one step further than Labour and
Nationalists and “require” local
authorities to set out how they would move towards a Decentralised Energy
Strategy. All new residential, commercial and public sector developments
would have to incorporate technologies which would reduce CO2 emissions
by 25% beyond building regulations standards. The Greens would aim to meet
15% of our heating needs from renewable and microgeneration sources by
2020; ensure that by 2010, 65,000 homes are built or renovated each year
with levels of insulation, passive solar gain and micropower that will
achieve zero carbon emissions.
The Party would provide permitted development rights for installation of
micro-power systems.
Electricity suppliers would be required to install meters in all new houses by 2009 that enable householders to sell excess electricity back into the national grid. The Greens would triple funding for the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative to provide grants for householders and communities to install renewable energy devices, and guarantee it on a 3-year rolling basis.
The Tories would invest £12 million per year to help households, communities and small businesses install energy-saving and micro generation technology.
Notes
[1] Scottish Labour Manifesto: http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/manifesto2007/
[2] Scottish Liberal Democrats Manifesto: http://www.nicolstephen.org.uk/manifesto.php
[3] Scottish Green Party Manifesto: http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/site/id/5709/title/SGP_Manifesto_2007.html
[4] Scottish National Party Manifesto: http://snp.org/policies
[5] Scottish Conservatives Manifesto: http://www.scottishconservatives.com/manifesto.asp
