Energy Consents Unit (ECU) communications and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Strategy in Relation to Mey BESS and Northern Applications: EIR release

Information requested

1. All correspondence (emails, memos, briefings) between the Energy Consents Unit, Scottish Government energy officials, and the following entities regarding the Mey Battery Energy Storage System (ECU00004838) and related developments in the Caithness area:

• Statera Energy
• SSEN
• Koehler Renewable Energy UK

2. All internal briefings, memos, or strategy documents produced between 1 January 2023 and the present that refer to:

• National or regional limits or caps on BESS development in the north of Scotland
• The projected approval/rejection rate of current BESS applications
• Strategic consideration of cumulative infrastructure development in Caithness

3. Any correspondence with or referring to Jamie Stone MP, Michael Shanks MP, or their offices regarding BESS development policy or the Mey BESS project. 

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 underthose 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.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested, entitled Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested owing to the following exception(s) under regulation(s) of the EIRs
applies to that information:

• 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. Please refer to https://www.energyconsents.scot/Default.aspx (Energy Consents Portal) which allows for full transparency of each application made by publishing all documents relating to an application.
• An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information.

An exception 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available) 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, as the information is already publicly available.

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.

About FOI

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

FOI 202500467050 - Information released - Annex A

File type

PDF

File size

2.6 MB