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Information relating to energy produced by microgeneration technologies currently installed in buildings occupied by the core Scottish Government is not currently recorded separately. Panels for solar water heating are installed at Tweedbank in Galashiels and their energy output will be recorded through a Building Management System (BMS) to be installed later this year. As part of a current refurbishment project at Saughton House in Edinburgh, solar panels are being installed to meet some of the hot water needs of the building. This project is due to be completed in June 2010. At the new Fish Veterinary and Aquaria facility currently under construction in Aberdeen, photovoltaic panels will be fitted to meet some of the electricity supply needs of the building. This building is due for completion in August 2010. Energy produced at both of these buildings by microgeneration will in future be monitored through a BMS. The Scottish Government also continues to support renewable technologies by procuring all of the electricity required to run its buildings from renewable sources.

Information relating to energy used in buildings occupied by agencies is not held centrally.

Panels for solar water heating are currently installed at Tweedbank in Galashiels. With the estate comprising 68 buildings, where the Scottish Government are the sole or major occupier, this represents 1.5%. As part of a current refurbishment project at Saughton House in Edinburgh due to be completed in June 2010, solar thermal panels are being installed to meet some of the hot water needs of the building. Photovoltaic panels are also being included at the new Fish Veterinary and Aquaria facility currently under construction in Aberdeen. This building is due to be completed by August 2010. The addition of microgeneration at these two sites will increase this percentage to 4.4%. Previous studies in respect of specific Scottish Government buildings have been ruled out.

The Scottish Government also continues to support renewable technologies by procuring all of the electricity required to run its buildings from renewable sources.

Information relating to microgeneration technologies installed at buildings occupied by agencies is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32380 on 23 March 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The following table illustrates the number of loans applied for and approved, plus the value of these, under the Energy Saving Scotland home loans scheme, broken down by month since the launch of the scheme on 8 October 2009.

Month	Number of Loan Applications	Number of Loans Approved	Value of Loans Approved (£)
October 2009	15	1	10,000
November 2009	93	21	124,105.16
December 2009	74	56	234,133.32
January 2010	91	54	256,692.65
February 2010	138	57	331,410.49
Total	411	189	956,341.62

 

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32370 on 19 March 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx. bod

No changes have yet been made to the accreditation standards for installers of microgeneration equipment in Scotland. The Scottish Government recently received proposals for changes to the accreditation requirements from the industry led working group. We are currently considering these. We are committed to reach a solution that will satisfy microgeneration installers but not exclude Scottish consumers from forthcoming UK-wide clean energy cash back schemes.

The Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group (MESPG) is primarily a Scottish Government/local government partnership on marine renewables and does not contain wider representation.

The Marine Strategic Studies Forum has representatives from the West of Four Fisheries Management Group, the Chamber of Shipping, Northern Lighthouse Board, Marine and Coastguard Agency, RSPB, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, MoD, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Department of Environment and Climate Change, British Ports Association, and Historic Scotland.

A formal consultation on the Environment Report from the Strategic Environmental Assessment will start in April 2010.

The SEA was taken forward in two parts. The first part; a screening and scoping assessment, was taken forward within government in spring 2009 and consulted on with key stakeholders. This assessment has been publicly available since June 2009.

The second part of the process; the production of an Environment Report, could only be commissioned after completion of the screening and scoping and after following Official Journal of the European Union contract requirements. The consultants, Halcrow, were commissioned on 24 November 2009.

The Strategic Environmental Assessment will assess the likely impact upon the environment of offshore wind developments (including cumulative effects from more than one development, and from other types of developments) and identify three types of spatial areas. These will be:

(a) Areas excluded from development.

(b) Areas which have considerable environmental constraints and/or conflicts of use with potential offshore wind energy development.

(c) Areas which have limited environmental constraints and/or conflicts of use with potential offshore wind development.

The Environment Report will categorise spatial areas into these three types.