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The offshore wind industry has enormous potential, and to realise this potential it is essential that investors have confidence. The proposals outlined to date in the UK Energy Bill and Electricity Market Reform programme lack the measures to give investors the confidence beyond 2020.

To deliver market certainty and maintain investor confidence, it is crucial that the UK Government progress the Electricity Market Reform programme to give investment clarity and assurance to the energy sector. The UK Government must also make clear their ongoing support for the offshore wind sector and emulate the Scottish Government’s approach by setting a 2030 electricity decarbonisation target now, not in 2016 as planned under the UK Energy Bill.

Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are working closely with port owners and industry partners to progress the expressions of interest received under the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund programme.

Figures for electricity and heat from biomass and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants are set out in the following table. It is important to note that figures for (i) biomass include some some of the electricity and heat generated by CHP plants including under (ii), as well as, for (a), electricity-only biomass plants and, for (b), heat-only “primary combustion” plants. Figures for (ii) Combined Heat and Power plants include both fossil fuel and renewable CHP, including biomass.

(a-i) The renewable electricity generated from biomass and waste in 2011 is set out in Table 1. This includes electricity generated by both biomass CHP and biomass electricity plants:

Table 1: Renewable electricity generated from biomass & waste in 2011

*Note: Includes co-firing, plant biomass, animal biomass and biodegradable part of municipal solid waste.

Source: DECC Energy Trends, December 2012

(a-ii) In 2011, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants in Scotand generated 2,864 GWh of electricity (Source: DECC Energy Trends, September 2012).

(b-i) The Energy Saving Trust in Scotland produce an annual report on renewable heat in Scotland for the Scottish Government. Table 2 shows the renewable heat generated from biomass and waste in 2011:

Table 2: Renewable heat generated from biomass & waste in 2011

Source: Energy Saving Trust, Renewable Heat in Scotland 2011.

(b-ii) In 2011, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants in Scotand generated 6,813 GWh of heat (Source: DECC Energy Trends, September 2012).

http://sh45inta/Publications/2012/12/4995/4.

Support is available for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) from a number of sources. Most are available to any organisation who wishes to develop Combined Heat and Power Plants (CHP), such as the main direct support mechanisms for renewable Combined Heat and Power (CHP): the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) and the UK Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive.

The Renewables Obligation (Scotland) gives 2 Renewables Obligation Certificates (SROCs) for every megawatt hour of electricity generated by biomass electricity generating plants with CHP. Following its recent consultation on changes to the Renewables Obligation (Scotland), the Scottish Government proposes to go further by setting an eligibility requirement for plants over 15 MW to meet good quality CHP standards to further drive uptake of CHP.

In the current Parliamentary session, finance for renewable CHP plants is also available through the £103 million Renewable Energy Investment Fund. Finance for both renewable and non-renewable CHP is available through the £5 million District Heating Loan Fund. The District Heating Loan Fund has limited grant funding available for technical feasibility studies. These schemes fund a range of renewable heat-only, CHP and district heating projects and are open to commercial and industrial organisations, large institutions and Universities.

The uptake of CHP depends largely upon the availability of markets for heat. The Scottish Government is working with local authorities to help them identify suitable locations and support planning for CHP and district heating through its Heat Mapping Programme. The heat maps help identify, plan for and maximise opportunities for local heat use and to support investment decisions on strategic heat infrastructure. The maps will not only benefit local authorities, but can also support feasibility work of developers or local communities.

Feasibility support for the development of anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities by communities, industrial sites and the NHS is also available from Zero Waste Scotland. Zero Waste Scotland is also planning to offer financial support for AD development in remote and island communities in 2013-14.

From April 2013, the new Resource Efficient Scotland programme will provide advice and support to businesses, third sector and public sector organisations to reduce overheads through implementation of energy, material resource and water efficiency improvement measures, and in doing so it will help cut carbon across public and private sector organisations. The programme will also provide a suite of sector-focused activities tailored to meet the specific needs of particular business and public sector across Scotland in order to deliver resource efficiency savings.

Scottish Further and Higher Education establishments have also been access specific funding schemes:

Since 2008, Salix Finance have managed a £5 million revolving loans fund on behalf of the Scottish Government to fund low carbon investment projects in Scottish Further and Higher Education establishments.

In 2012, the Scottish Funding Council set up a Programme to fund a small number of large-scale carbon reduction projects in Scottish universities, with funding of up to £20 million over the next two years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13327 on 13 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

We do not currently have projections for the number of district heating that will be developed by 2020. We are considering how to set out projections for district heating, across the range of different district heating models, in our response to The Expert Commission on District Heating’s recommendation that “the Scottish Government should set stretching yet realistic targets for penetration of district heating in 2020”.

We will developing projections as part of our long term heat vision for Scotland. We published a draft outline heat vision in January 2012, including a heat hierarchy which sets a framework to guide heat policy development and decision making. As part of our wider heat strategy we have developed draft deployment options guidance and will publish a district heating action plan and Heat Generation Policy Statement (HGPS) later this year. The HGPS will present our understanding of how heat is delivered now, and set out scenarios for meeting our heat vision, highlighting the pros and cons for each.

The Energy Saving Trust in Scotland (EST) carried out a survey of district heating in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government. The results of the survey indicate that there are 103 active district heating schemes in Scotland. These vary considerably in size and can be broadly categorised based on estimated heat production:

The largest number of district heating schemes is made up of small-scale networks in rural areas, mainly heat-only networks using woodfuel, typical examples of which are on farms and estates (case studies are available from the Usewoodfuel website www.usewoodfuel.co.uk/using-woodfuel/case-studies/woodfuel-in-practice-farms-and-estates.aspx). A small number of large systems, such as Aberdeen Heat and Power’s district heating network in Aberdeen supply many more properties. Aberdeen Heat and Power have three gas-fired CHP energy centres supplying around 1,200 flats in multi story blocks and eight public buildings (www.aberdeenheatandpower.co.uk).

The information requested is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-12934 on 5 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.