Minister offers hope on transmission charges

A NEW steering group to address high transmission charges that block renewable energy projects in Scotland’s islands is to meet next month for the first time.

The news has been welcomed locally after UK energy minister Ed Davey made the announcement at the Low Carbon Investment Conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday, days after his visit to Shetland and Orkney.

The group will include representatives from the UK and Scottish governments as well as the three island authorities and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Last May energy regulator Ofgem dealt a blow to island renewables projects when it decided they would have to pay up to seven times more than their mainland counterparts to transmit electricity on the national grid.

Davey said he was commissioning the new group to “inform a new independent study on Scottish island renewable generation” to assess its commercial viability and overall value for money, after hearing concerns about transmission charges during his trip to the northern isles.

Advertisement9 of 11

“I have been very impressed with the wind and marine developments I’ve seen this week during my visits to Shetland and Orkney and it is important everything is being done to speed up progress where possible,” he said.

Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing welcomed Davey’s pledge to “find a solution to the problem of high transmission charging for the Scottish islands”.

Ewing stressed the urgency of addressing the high charges and the need to examine other options.

Northern isles MP Alistair Carmichael said current policy had failed islands renewables, and Davey’s statement demonstrated genuine cross party commitment to making progress.
 
“This latest working group needs to be more than a talking shop and I will be working with the Department for Energy and Climate Change to ensure this is the case,” he said.

Aaron Priest, project manager with Viking Energy, adde: “This is very welcome news for Shetland.  A fairer transmission charging regime would allow us to fully harness the outstanding natural resource we have here in Shetland.

“We have argued for changes for a long time and will continue to do so and this latest move is definitely a positive step forward.”