Scotland’s new onshore wind deal must strike a delicate balance - Jackie Cook

In September, the Scottish Government published the “Onshore Wind Sector Deal for Scotland”, a strategic paper it agreed with leaders in the onshore wind industry such as Scottish Renewables and the G12/S5 Onshore Wind Sector Working Group. The Deal sets out plans to increase Scottish onshore wind generation to 20GW by 2030. It seeks greater cooperation with stakeholders, an accelerated consenting process and practical solutions to overcome barriers to delivery, such as transporting large turbine components by road.

While details on the Deal are pending, other publications like Scotland’s Programme for Government 2023-4 and a subsequent Ministerial Statement on energy suggest the Deal will impact developers and potentially change landowner and objector rights through compulsory purchase reforms to secure land for wind projects.

The Deal proposes streamlining applications to the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) for developments over 50MW and sets ambitious new deadlines for decisions. In future, applications for new sites and to re-power existing sites should take 12-24 months, extensions to the operational life of existing facilities should take five months and applications to discharge certain planning conditions before works begin should take six weeks.

An overhaul of environmental impact assessment (EIA) requirements is needed to meet these targets. A new EIA regime is expected to be in place by late 2024. Additional resources and training on the updated EIA process will be offered to planning authorities, which rely on EIA data to make informed decisions on applications.

Jacqueline Cook is Head of Planning at Davidson Chalmers Stewart LLP

Wind energy developers will likely welcome many aspects of the Deal, but with some caution as it does repeat some pledges that have been made before. Encouraging ‘proportionate’ environmental assessment that is commensurate to a project’s potential impact, for example, has been a feature of Scottish EIA guidance since 1999. It remains unclear what the Deal will do differently to maximise the use of existing tools, and to forge new ones.

Planning conditions for large onshore wind farms are currently imposed centrally by the Scottish Ministers via the ECU, whereas compliance with conditions is overseen by local authorities. There is no indication this will change. Extensive consultation between different layers of government will be needed to ensure that new timescales are realistic and planning conditions are used to best effect.

The Deal promises increased visibility of the strategic pipeline and a push for electricity grid improvements. Again, these are well-received aims but they will impose additional costs on developers and operators who are already grappling with volatile energy markets, inflated construction costs, a scarcity of suitable sites and grid connection uncertainty.

In addition, the Programme for Government anticipates infrastructure levy regulations will be in place by 2026, which would further elevate development costs. Along with an expected rise in community benefit contributions, developers could pay an even higher price for development consents under the new regime.

While the Deal is a positive step forward in increasing renewable energy capacity, we must ensure it doesn’t adversely impact on developers and excessively curtail those with legitimate objections.

Jacqueline Cook is Head of Planning at Davidson Chalmers Stewart LLP