Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the reasons for its decision to no longer provide new referrals for solar PV and energy storage systems to the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme from 6 June 2024.
The Scottish Government recognises that solar power has an important role to play in decarbonising our energy supply and supporting a just transition to net zero, however, we cannot meet our climate targets without ending the use of polluting heating systems in our buildings and moving to clean heat alternatives.
With sustained demand for the scheme and in the context of the real terms cuts to the Scottish Government’s capital funding – as well as drastic reductions in financial transactions – these changes were necessary to ensure that funding is best focused on interventions which directly decarbonise heat or reduce heat demand and ensure the scheme stays within its available budget.