Wind farm electricity generation cost query: EIR release

Information requested

A Fresh Start with Independence, published on 8th October 2025, includes the following remark: “offshore and onshore wind farms can currently provide electricity at a lower cost than gas power plants”

Previous Scottish Government FOI responses have always relied on (out of date) modelling to show that Scottish offshore or onshore wind farms can theoretically generate low-cost electricity, so I was very interested by the word currently in the remark quoted above.

Has the Scottish Government now identified Scottish wind farms which actually exist and are providing electricity at a lower cost than gas power plants? If so, please provide a list of these wind farms, along with the evidence that they are providing electricity at a lower cost than gas power plants.

Response

The statement made in the report is based on work published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on electricity generation costs in Great Britain. The report can be obtained from the DESNZ website at the following link: Electricity generation costs 2023.

The report presents levelised costs for electricity generation technologies. A “levelised cost” is the average cost of the lifetime of the plant per MWh of electricity generated. Levelised costs reflect the cost of building, operating, and decommissioning a generic plant for each technology – and are not site specific.

As you note, levelised costs are based on modelling, and the DESNZ publication notes that there is inherent uncertainty when estimating current and future costs of electricity generation. However, as levelised costs are a measure of the underlying costs of energy generation, without distortions, they are a recognised, and widely used, method for comparing the average costs of energy generation across different generating technologies.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have a list of onshore and offshore wind farms in Scotland, that are characterised as providing electricity at a lower cost than gas power plants. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. 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.

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 low cost renewable generation assets, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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.