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SUMMARY
The Scottish Ministers have set a target of generating 40% (since quantified as 6 GW) of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and confirmed that this target should not be regarded as a cap. The importance of using clean and sustainable energy from renewable sources will continue to increase as a result of global imperatives to tackle climate change and the need to ensure secure and diverse energy supplies.
The Scottish Ministers will continue to support the full range of renewable generation technologies, including microrenewables, to enable Scotland to realise its considerable renewable energy potential.
The planning framework set out in this SPP will help ensure the delivery of renewable energy targets as well as supporting the development of a viable renewables industry in Scotland. The development of existing and new technologies has the potential to provide significant opportunities for Scotland to enhance its manufacturing capacity with associated economic and employment benefits. Such benefits, which may accrue locally or nationally, should be fully taken into account when considering planning applications.
This SPP sets out how the planning system should manage the process of encouraging, approving and implementing renewable energy proposals when preparing development plans and determining planning applications. Planning authorities should use the development plan process to support and encourage the continued growth of all renewable technologies. In particular, plans should set out a spatial approach for considering wind farm proposals over 20 megawatts.
Spatial policies should not be used to restrict development on sites where the technology can operate efficiently and environmental and other impacts can be addressed. In all instances, development plans should provide clarity on the criteria that should be met to enable development to take place in a satisfactory manner. Plans should, however, use spatial policies to afford significant protection to areas designated for their national or international natural heritage value; green belts and those areas where further development would result in unacceptable cumulative impacts.
Planning authorities should revise their development plans to take account of this SPP. In the meantime, they should continue to determine those applications that are, or come, before them ahead of revised local policies being put in place.
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