When the Onshore Wind Sector Deal was signed almost two years ago, Neil Gray MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Energy at that time, said that ‘Balancing the needs of energy production with proper environmental stewardship demands diligence and continuous innovation’.
Since then, it is fair to say that we have turned those words into action.
Signed in September 2023 at our Onshore Wind Conference, co-organised with RenewableUK, the ground-breaking agreement set out how both industry and the Scottish Government would work together to deliver onshore wind farms quickly, sustainably and to the benefit of local communities, while setting out an ambition to double Scotland’s onshore wind capacity to 20GW by 2030.
Significant progress has been made to address the challenges that were holding back the construction of projects across the country, with half of the 63 sector deal commitments delivered to date. Highlights include:
• Pipeline Analyses: The pipeline analyses that were released between 2023 and 2024 have provided foundational information needed to address the challenges of deploying onshore wind at the rate required to reach our 2030 targets. The analyses have informed the implementation of almost every sector deal commitment.
• Planning progress: following our briefing to the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) on Scotland’s onshore wind pipeline, the ECU quickly ramped up recruitment and the unit has more than doubled its headcount in a year. The publication of standardised Section 36 conditions for consent and deemed planning permission has helped the ECU to further streamline its processes.
• A new register: Local Energy Scotland has updated the Register of Community Benefits to capture the commitments industry has made to uphold the Good Practice Principles, providing data that backs up the success of community benefit in Scotland.
• Demonstrating local spend: Scottish Renewables has developed a framework and guidance for measuring project spend in Scotland and is publishing data annually to demonstrate the economic impact of onshore wind across the country.
• Supply chain advertising: The onshore wind sector is now using Energy Pathfinder to host onshore wind procurement opportunities to make it easier for local supply chain companies to find the opportunities available.
• Demand for skills: Through the sector deal, reports have been published on the skills gaps and a follow up report on the provision for education and training in the onshore industry. We are now collaborating with the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) to undertake a skills overview and support education and training.
• Agreeing on aviation: Significant progress has been made to create a fair, impartial and transparent process for mitigating radar interference. A survey of the impacts of onshore wind on aviation and defence summary survey of onshore wind impacts on aviation and defence, a study of radar mitigation solutions and guidance for aviation lighting have now been published.
The sector deal is helping the UK to reach its energy security ambitions but we’re not there yet.
Scottish Renewables is working to:
• Develop peatland guidance that acknowledges the key role onshore wind developers play in restoring peatland without having a detrimental impact on new wind farms.
• Roll-out guidance for a streamlined Environmental Impact Assessment Report which will help consultees understand the real environmental impacts of a wind farm.
• Achieve 12-month timelines for decisions on consenting nationally important onshore wind farms.
• Reach an enduring legislative solution to the challenge of escorting abnormal loads.
• Support the Scottish and UK Governments and the Ministry of Defence on delivering an enduring solution for optimising the development of onshore wind within the Eskdalemuir seismic array consultation zone.
The main role of the sector deal was to support collaborative working between the Scottish Government and the onshore wind industry, but its influence has been much greater.
When the UK Government decided to develop the UK Onshore Wind Strategy, they planned to focus only on England and Wales. The sector deal asserted the importance of Scotland to the UK’s onshore wind ambitions, ensuring Scotland was included, and key actions on reserved matters outlined in the deal were embedded in the UK Strategy.
As a clear statement of Scottish Government ambition, the sector deal was also instrumental in ensuring 20.5GW of onshore wind deployment in Scotland was included in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.
So, the sector deal has evolved from a mechanism for collaboration with the Scottish Government into a key that unlocks collaborative working with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero and the Clean Power Unit.
All this and more will be hot topics of conversation at the upcoming Scottish Renewables and RenewableUK Onshore Wind Conference 2025 in Edinburgh on September 16 and 17.
Book your ticket and get involved in the conversation with key industry leaders, government officials and stakeholders as we discuss the future of the UK’s onshore wind industry.