Electricity demand in the event of the power stations at Torness and Peterhead being decommissioned: EIR release

Information requested

Please provide any Scottish Government discussion/analysis on how Scotland would meet electricity demand in the event of the power stations at Torness and Peterhead being decommissioned.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

The attached documents provide details of Scottish Government discussion/analysis on how Scotland would meet electricity demand in the event of power stations at Torness and Peterhead being decommissioned.

According to current plans, the decommissioning of these sites will occur, approximately, within the next decade. This reduction in the level of thermal generation capacity will be coupled with growth in renewables, flexible and storage technologies, carbon capture-enabled generation technologies, and GB and international grid connections, ensuring that Scotland’s electricity demand continues to be met.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested, however some of this information has been withheld or redacted due to the clauses detailed below. The information enclosed is in two separate files, one including all relevant email communications and one containing the text of all relevant documents.

Clauses
 

• Some of the information you have requested is publicly available from the sources in the table below. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Document	Can be found	Location
Document 43: Peterhead low carbon CCGT Power plant Gatecheck report	Online	Scottish Government - Energy Consents
		Unit - Application Details

• An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.
• An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication between Scottish Government officials about analysis to help inform ongoing research. This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate.However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on the future electricity system will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that issue while it is still under discussion and development.
• An exception under regulation 10(4)e (Internal Communications) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide free and frank advice and views to Ministers in briefings. It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly answer Parliamentary questions, provide sound information to Parliament (to which they are accountable), and robustly defend the Government’s policies and decisions. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so.Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.

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The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202200322629 - Information released

File type

36 page PDF

File size

1.1 MB