Friday 19 August 2016

Scottish wind industry could slash costs by fifth

The Scottish onshore wind industry could cut costs by at least 20%.

More than £150 million could be saved each year if the Scottish and UK governments work with industry and regulators to remove barriers, according to Everoze’s report 'Onshore Wind in Scotland', commissioned by Scottish Renewables.

The report presents industry and government stakeholders with an assessment of the sector and outlines a number of money saving opportunities across three broad themes - planning, grid and revenue.

Installing the latest generation of wind turbines could cut costs by £11/MWh.

Introducing flexible ways to connect onshore wind to the grid and reducing connection fee would also push prices down.

The report says that guidance on how to maximise potential benefits from redeveloping, replanting and repowering existing wind farms needs to be developed.

It also suggests that the industry would benefit from adopting smart grid connections and deploying further energy storage technologies.

Scottish Renewables Senior Policy Manager Lindsay Roberts said: “The report sets out just how competitive onshore wind in Scotland can be and shows that it makes no sense for the UK government to exclude the technology from long-term contracts for clean power.”