The SNP has accused Westminster of a “great renewables robbery”, highlighting data showing Scotland could be charged £1 billion to use the UK’s electricity network for renewable projects.
The Scotsman obtained data from the National Energy System Operator (Neso) using freedom of information requests.
It shows that in 2030/31, forecast generation charges for projects in the north of Scotland will reach £669 million, and in central and southern Scotland projects will face a bill of £291 million.
Meanwhile, projects in England and Wales will receive a net payment of £435.67 million.
Westminster is risking the renewables revolution we stand ready to capitalise upon while destroying the oil and gas industry we have today
The UK’s Transmission Network Use of System charging regime was historically designed to use locational pricing signals to encourage generators to build closer to major demand centres.
Richard Thomson, the SNP candidate for the Aberdeen South by-election, said: “Westminster is destroying renewables jobs through their unfair transmission charging regime while at the same time Westminster’s tax on Scotland’s energy is destroying oil and gas jobs.
“These crippling transmission charges are uniquely applied to Scottish projects while equivalent sites in England are subsidised – it is a great renewables robbery and it will hit Scottish firms with a £1 billion bombshell.”
The SNP pointed to projects it said have been dropped due to the current system, including a 2GW development at West of Orkney wind farm where developers warned excessive transmission costs made the project uncompetitive.
Mr Thomson continued: “Scotland’s wind, waters and workforce are powering homes across these islands, but Westminster is risking the renewables revolution we stand ready to capitalise upon while destroying the oil and gas industry we have today.
“It’s Scotland’s energy and it should be in Scotland’s hands, not Westminster’s, because every day it is, is another day of Scotland’s potential wasted.
“Only the SNP is on the side of our energy sector and we will never stand by as Westminster casts workers here on the scrapheap, so let it be said very clearly – we can protect the world-class oil and gas sector we have today and build another world-class renewables industry right by its side.”
A UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “We are reversing decades of underinvestment and delivering the biggest upgrade to the grid as we work to halve the time it takes to build new transmission infrastructure by reforming the planning system.
“Neso has made clear that driving for clean energy saves money by fundamentally reducing our exposure to fossil fuel markets – its report shows we could save £36 billion annually if we hit our 2050 goals compared with a scenario in which we slow down.
“We are looking at transmission charges as part of our reformed national pricing review and will update in due course.”