| Title: | Introduction of banding to the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) - Preliminary Consultation |
| Organisation: | Scottish Government |
| Issued: | Fri 09 May 2008 |
| Deadline: | 04 July 2008 |
| Status: | CLOSED Consultation is closed for comments |
| Synopsis: | The Renewables Obligation (Scotland), or ROS, is fundamental to increasing renewables capacity across Scotland, and achieving our target that 50% of Scottish electricity demand should be met from renewable sources by 2020. The ROS has led to significant increases in renewable output across Scotland since its introduction in 2002. In order for it to remain effective, we need to ensure that support under the ROS is targeted appropriately. New powers enabling the banding of the Renewables Obligation mechanism will allow us to do just that. In May 2007, BERR published a consultation paper outlining significant changes to its Renewable Obligation. These proposals have since been clarified further via the issue of a Government response to that consultation. The main element is the proposed introduction of banding - the grouping of different technologies into separate bands offering different levels of support. There is also consideration given to a range of related matters including grandfathering, arrangements for review, headroom etc. The introduction of banding is subject to certain changes being made to the primary legislation. A draft Energy Bill delivering new powers in these areas is currently before the UK Parliament; should that Bill receive Royal Assent, then these amended powers will be executively devolved to Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Government has already agreed in principle that banding should be introduced to the ROS; however, there are certain elements of the package proposed by BERR which do not fully accord with Scottish Ministers' vision for the sector and where there may be scope for a different approach to be taken in Scotland. This preliminary consultation is intended to highlight these areas and to give respondents a chance to respond to our emerging proposals. As with previous consultations on the ROS, this paper focuses only on those areas where the Scottish Government is minded at the outset to take a different approach to that proposed by BERR. |
The IEMA are not planning to respond to the consultation. But we have signposted it on our website for the interest of our members. If any member wishes to respond, please follow the instructions on Scottish Government's website:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/19185/ROSCons08BPRIf you do plan to respond on your own behalf, we would be grateful if you could let us know. Please email g.bower@iema.net