Oversight of renewable energy generation, revenue and land use: EIR release

Information requested

1. Annual statistics on total renewable energy generated in Scotland between 2015 and 2025, by type.

2. Any assessments or reports on the proportion of energy consumed domestically vs. exported.

3. Information or reports detailing how revenue generated from public land used for renewable projects has been tracked, reinvested, or distributed.

4. Any policies, guidance, or evaluations used by the Scottish Government to assess the public interest or financial value of leasing/selling public land for renewable energy development.

Response

I enclose some of the information you requested.

1. For this question there are two forms of renewable energy generation in Scotland: electricity and heat. For electricity, the information you have requested (up to Q1 2025) is published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in the Renewable electricity capacity and generation (ET 6.1 - quarterly) tables.

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.

For heat, the Scottish Government publishes information on renewable heat generated by technology type. This is only broken down for the most recent two years (2023 and 2024) therefore I have provided the requested time series in the table below.

Table 1: Renewable heat output (GWh), by technology type, 2015 to 2024

Technology	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Biogas	84	125	208	240	254	277	279	283	283	283
Bioliquid	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Biomass	3,155	2,525	3,009	3,409	3,332	3,293	3,667	3,739	3,715	3,717
Biomethane	126	409	552	578	716	716	868	920	920	920
Heat pump	184	215	252	294	357	450	578	691	797	894
Solar thermal	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	12	12	12
Waste	12	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23
Total	3,572	3,308	4,056	4,556	4,694	4,771	5,428	5,669	5,750	5,851

Source: Renewable Heat Dataset, Energy Saving Trust

2. Scotland's energy balance, including consumption and exports is published by the Scottish Government. The latest energy balance includes information for 2020 however some of the underlying information has been updated with details provided below.

Scotland’s total energy consumption is published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in the Sub-national total final energy consumption statistics: 2005 to 2022 tables.

Scotland’s electricity transfers are published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in the Electricity generation and supply in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, 2004 to 2023 - data tables. Scotland only has a connection to England and Northern Ireland therefore Scotland only transfers electricity to those countries. Some of this may be transferred to Europe however it is not possible to track.

Scotland’s exports of oil, petroleum products and natural gas are published by the Scottish Government in the oil and gas physical commodity balances 1998-2022 tables.

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.

In relation to questions 1 and 2, you may wish to contact the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero if you have further questions.

3. A recent parliamentary question (S6W-37658) outlines the renewable energy schemes on Scotland's national forest estate, managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS).

Income to FLS from renewable energy developments is used to support the work carried out on top of other income such as timber sales. This includes recreation and visitor services throughout all five FLS Regions in Scotland, covering staffing and other costs. It also includes work with community initiatives such as the Community Asset Transfer Scheme for lease or purchase of FLS land. It has reduced the support provided by Scottish taxpayers from the Scottish Government each year, allowing that money to be spent on other national priorities.

Regulation 10(5)(e) allows authorities to withhold information where disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is provided for by law to protect a legitimate economic interest. Regulation 10(5)(f) allows authorities to withhold information where disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the interests of the person who supplied the information. Some information held by Forestry and Land Scotland for the purposes noted in question 3 has not been shared due to falling into the scope of these regulations.

Another parliamentary question (S6W-35519) highlights that Crown Estate Scotland has the following arrangements in place with private sector providers for wind and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management:

• One commercial lease agreement with a tenant farmer, which involved the installation of a 50 KW solar PV scheme, installed on a 50/50 basis under a FIT scheme a number of years ago. This project resulted in the payment of £9,300 to Crown Estate Scotland in 2023-24 and has 16 years to run.
• Three onshore wind electricity generation projects in the planning stages that are yet to be consented as follows:
  • Wind farm in planning phase in Moffat with a view to 7 turbines on two tenanted farms with potential capacity of 50.4 MW.
    • Access rights over CES ground and tenanted farms to facilitate potential 16 turbines (sited elsewhere) in Moray with potential capacity of 105.6 MW. The scheme is still in planning phase.
    • Access rights over CES ground and tenanted farms to facilitate 10 turbines (sited elsewhere) with potential wind farm capacity of 72 MW in Moray. The scheme is still in planning stages.
  • There are currently no operational onshore wind farms with a lease from Crown Estate Scotland. Also, Crown Estate Scotland does not manage any onshore leases for hydropower projects.

A further parliamentary question (S6W-35520) highlights that Crown Estate Scotland has no current leases with community-owned providers for wind, hydro and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management.

Information about energy projects taken forward by Scottish Water are set out in their Annual Reports. Scottish Ministers have directed Scottish Water to deliver Net Zero by 2040. As such, we don’t monitor individual projects, but the delivery of that target.

For the Scottish Ministers’ crofting and agricultural estates, to date we have not had any renewable energy developments built out so the income is currently only option agreement payments that are shared with our tenants on a 50/50 basis as per crofting law.

4. We have developed a renewable development opportunities framework that renewable projects must all comply with to ensure projects benefit local communities on Scottish Ministers’ crofting and agricultural estates, either through locally owned renewable energy projects, to provide wider community benefits or ensuring developers allow communities the opportunity to have an economic stake in commercial development projects. To date, all projects that have progressed to a full lease, have seen Scottish Ministers’ tenants (the local community) receive a 50% share of operational income, separate compensation agreed directly with the developer, as well as the establishment of community funds. However, none have taken up the opportunity of shared ownership.

In relation to questions 3 and 4, under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. Apart from the information withheld in relation question 3, the Scottish Government (which includes Forestry and Land Scotland) does not have further information in relation to these questions, partly due to other public bodies being responsible for the subject.

You may wish to contact the public bodies mentioned above (Crown Estate Scotland, Scottish Water)    who may be able to help.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about renewable projects on public land, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

About FOI

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