Electricity Infrastructure Consenting in Scotland
This consultation is open for responses
Respond to this consultationSummary
DESNZ proposes reforms to Scotland's electricity infrastructure consenting under the Electricity Act 1989, targeting projects over 50MW onshore and 1MW offshore within 12 nautical miles. The consultation seeks to modernise consent processes and strengthen community involvement requirements. Both UK and Scottish governments agree that removing inefficiencies from the 1989 Act is the primary route to accelerating deployment for Clean Power 2030.
Why it matters
The proposals address consent delays that create option value hoarding — developers sit on consents rather than build quickly when approval processes are scarce and non-priced. However, adding community consultation requirements layers more oversight onto broken incentives rather than pricing the externality directly. The tension between 'meaningful involvement' and 'timely' processes remains unresolved.
Key facts
- •Covers generating stations over 50MW onshore, 1MW offshore 0-12 nautical miles
- •Scottish Government grants consents under Electricity Act 1989
- •Aims to support Clean Power 2030 target
- •Proposes strengthened pre-application community involvement
Areas affected
Related programmes
Memo
The UK Government believes that Scotland’s growing renewable electricity sector requires a robust, timely and proportionate consenting process which meaningfully involves communities and relevant planning authorities in decision-making. The Scottish Government grants consents to electricity infrastructure – both generating stations over 50MW (1 MW for generating stations 0-12 nautical miles from shore) and network projects - under the Electricity Act 1989. The UK and Scottish governments agree that modernising and removing inefficiencies within the Electricity Act 1989, is the best route to speeding up infrastructure deployment, which is vital to achieving clean power by 2030. It is also agreed that requirements for applicants to involve communities and statutory consultees through pre-application and application processes should be strengthened, to build a fairer consenting system and develop better quality applications for consent. This consultation sets out a package of proposals for reform which span the consenting journey. The purpose of the consultation is to test these proposals with a wide group of stakeholders ranging from communities hosting infrastructure to applicants for consent. This will help us understand the impacts proposals will have across stakeholder groups and be used to shape the development of policy proposals.