Windfarm licenses and applications: EIR release

Information requested

1. How many wind farms are currently licensed to operate in Scotland?
2. How many wind turbines are there currently in operation in Scotland?
3. What percentage of wind power electricity is currently surplus to Scotland’s requirements and is sold to other parts of the UK?
4. How many wind farm applications have been refused by the Scottish Government in the last 10 years?

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.

Response to your request

The answer to your question is in the attached annex.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. This exemption applies to questions 1 & 3 as per your request as Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of wind farms currently licensed to operate in Scotland or how many wind turbines are currently in operation in Scotland. The reasons why these exemptions apply is explained in further detail in the annex to this response.

About FOI

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 202300379860 - Information Released - Annex

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