Pressure on to hit renewable energy targets

Published on Monday 6 October 2008 21:44

NEW targets to increase renewable forms of energy were announced by the First Minister yesterday.

The Scottish Government wants to see a tenfold increase in the amount of heat generated by renewable energy sources such as biomass, Alex Salmond said.

The EU has called for 20 per cent of energy to come from renewables by 2020. Mr Salmond said Scotland was on its way to having 50 per cent of its gross electricity consumption coming from renewable sources by 2020, and 31 per cent by 2011.

But he said Scotland was lagging behind other countries in using renewable sources for heat and transport.

Launching the Renewable Energy Framework and a 2 million biomass support scheme during a visit to Inverness yesterday, Mr Salmond said the Scottish Government was making progress towards making the country the green energy capital of Europe.

He said: "Tackling climate change presents huge opportunities for Scotland and, despite the current economic slowdown, the country's renewable energy sector is booming."

Scottish Renewables, the green energy trade body, called for close co-operation between Holyrood and Westminster to deliver UK and Scottish targets.

Jason Ormiston, the organisation's chief executive, said: "At last the Scottish Government is joining up its energy policy with an action plan for renewable heat alongside electricity and transport fuels."

He said biomass technology could be rolled out on a community wide basis or individually in homes and businesses, with estimates that 250,000 Scottish homes will have to have renewable heat technology installed to meet the target by 2020, providing up to 500 million of business for the biomass sector.

Scotland's total energy use is broken down as 45 per cent heat, 29 per cent transport and 26 per cent electricity. In 2006, renewable sources provided 16 per cent of electricity, 1 per cent of heat and 0.44 per cent in biofuels for transport.

To meet the targets, it is planned to aim for at least 50 per cent of gross electricity consumption from renewables, 11 per cent for heat and 10 per cent for transport.

The electricity targets will be largely met by onshore wind and hydro projects, with offshore wind, marine and tidal and biomass schemes contributing over the next decade.

The main technologies to increase renewable heat in the UK are likely to be biomass-based. A scheme used at the Scottish School of Forestry, which Mr Salmond visited, sees timber that may otherwise go to waste now used to fuel a plant which heats the premises and has cut heating bills by 7,000 a year.

The framework also seeks to develop alternative transport, such as electric or hydrogen vehicles, and the use of biofuels.

Biofuels mix organic materials such as oilseed, wheat and sugar with conventional petrol to reduce emissions. However they are less energy-efficient than fossil fuels and there have been questions over their sustainability.

Electric and hydrogen-powered cars are not widely available, but the Scottish Government is considering the role the public sector might make in using these vehicles.

Gareth Williams, a spokesman for the Scottish Council Development and Industry, said he supported the government's ambitions but said that ministers had to make sure the planning system actively encouraged these kinds of development, instead of "putting a brake on them as at the moment".