Onshore Wind Policy Statement

Closed 31 Jan 2022

Opened 28 Oct 2021

Feedback updated 26 Jul 2022

We asked

The Onshore Wind Policy Statement consultation was launched on 28 October 2021, which includes our ambition that an additional 8-12 GW of onshore wind be installed by 2030.  The consultation considered other key themes such as barriers to deployment, positive environmental impacts, community benefits and shared ownership, circular economy and supply chain opportunities.

You said

There was 160 responses to the consultation of which 111 were from organisations and 49 from individuals.

General support from a large minority (including a large number of renewable energy respondents) was expressed in favour of the 8-12GW target.  Across all respondent sub-groups there was a broad desire for support to be given to community wind and local ownership of developments. 

We did

The Scottish Government’s Draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement Refresh: Analysis of Responses to Consultation has been published.

The responses will inform the finalisation of the Onshore Wind Policy Statement.  The Scottish Government will publish a finalised Onshore Wind Policy Statement in due course.

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

Onshore wind is a proven cheap and reliable source of electricity generation and Scotland’s resource and commitment have seen us lead the way in onshore wind deployment and support across the UK.

It is clear that onshore wind will be vital in our progress towards Scotland's legally-binding net zero targets. We believe that Scotland's net zero commitment presents the perfect opportunity to revisit and reassess our original Onshore Wind Policy Statement that was published in 2017.

This consultation will consider how the Scottish Government can strengthen its support for Onshore Wind deployment in Scotland, specifically consulting on our ambition for an additional 8-12 Gigawatts to be installed by 2030, how to tackle the barriers to deployment, and how to secure maximum economic benefit from these development.

Read the consultation paper

Why your views matter

The aim of the consultation is to obtain the views of as many organisations, groups and individuals as possible and to help inform and shape Scottish Government policy for onshore wind.

We welcome and would encourage all stakeholders to participate in this consultation as doing so will help us ensure that the final policy statement provides an ambitious, strong and stable framework for onshore wind development in Scotland.

What happens next

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

When the consultation closes, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us shape the final Onshore Wind Policy Statement.

We intend on making all non-confidential responses to the consultation available to the public on the consultation page after the closing date. We will also post an analysis of responses received to the consultation on the Scottish Government's consultation web pages.

We aim to issue a report on the consultation exercise and this report will be available on the Scottish Government consultation hub.

Interests

  • Energy