- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the first Saltire Prize to be awarded.
Answer
The Saltire Prize Challenge will be announced by the First Minister on 2 December 2008. Full details of the prize, and timing of the award, will be released at this time.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will provide ongoing support to the installation and commissioning or deployment of pre-commercial wave and tidal electricity generating devices when the Wave and Tidal Energy Support Scheme grants have been allocated.
Answer
We are consulting at present on the maintenance of higher levels of support for wave and tidal power under our renewables obligation. This measure is already attracting development proposals in waters around Scotland. We are also supporting innovation and levering investment through the Saltire Prize, details of which will be announced at the end of November 2008.
More widely, we are working with all stakeholders on the development of a route map for the sector, which will provide an up to date assessment of the critical path to 2020, the necessary support levels and mechanisms and the issues to be resolved if we are to make Scotland a world leader. This vital work is being spearheaded by the Scottish Government in partnership with the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland, and will involve the input of the Marine Energy Group and the Scottish Government''s Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how regularly it expects future Saltire Prizes to be awarded and whether they will be awarded for innovation in renewable energy.
Answer
No decisions have been taken on the award of future Saltire Prizes. The current Saltire Prize will be launched on 2 December 2008.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to announce a final decision on future direct grant support for the wave and tidal power sector.
Answer
It is our intention to continue to support wave and tidal projects. This needs to be based on a clear route map setting out the path and obstacles to 2020, and a robust assessment of need. We are working with the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland and with all those who have an interest in the sector to deliver these assessments as soon as possible.
In the meantime, we are proposing to maintain high levels of support for wave and tidal power through the introduction of banding to our renewables obligation.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland’s Marine Energy Group will be reconvened to assess the effects and outputs of the Wave and Tidal Energy Support Scheme and when it is anticipated that the group will report to ministers.
Answer
The Marine Energy Group is being reconvened at the moment. We expect it to meet for the first time in January 2009, and report to ministers on an on-going basis.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the final (a) capital and (b) revenue grant instalments were or will be issued to projects supported by the Wave and Tidal Energy Support Scheme.
Answer
We expect to have issued the capital allocation under the scheme by March 2011. Projects can receive revenue payments for a maximum of five years after project commissioning.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of offshore wind developments being planned for Scottish territorial waters and, if none, what the reasons are for its position on this matter, in light of the SEA being conducted for other UK territorial waters.
Answer
The Scottish Government announced its plans for a strategic environmental assessment of Scottish territorial waters for offshore wind energy on 29 October 2008. This is currently being commissioned.
Further details are included in a Scottish Government news release of 29 October 2008, available at http://sh45inta/News/Releases/2008/10/29112030.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will undertake to carry out a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of planned offshore wind developments as a matter of priority, in light of the increasing demand for such developments and concern that the absence of strategic guidance, which an SEA would provide, could disadvantage developers wishing to pursue sites in Scottish waters.
Answer
A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of Scottish territorial waters is currently being commissioned, and the rest of the renewable energy zone is the subject of an SEA being carried out in cooperation with the UK Government''s Department of Energy and Climate Change.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that information that might be available to it through a strategic environmental assessment is taken into account when determining offshore wind farm applications in Scottish territorial waters.
Answer
We expect that any application for an offshore wind farm will require an environmental impact assessment (EIA). The EIA should be informed by relevant plans, programmes and strategies for which a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been undertaken. In this way the information available through the SEA will be material to the determination of the application.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 4 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis it has made of the impact of the research and development funding schemes for marine energy recently established in Ireland and the United States of America on the likelihood of tidal and wave technology companies locating in Scotland
Answer
We believe that the availability of support for marine energy in other countries, as well as in Scotland, is a positive development. Additional support for these technologies across the world will create tremendous opportunities for companies to export their devices from Scotland - as some are already doing.
We believe that the combination of the huge potential resource in Scotland and the incentives we are providing will continue to attract considerable research, development and operational activity to Scotland.
