THE SNP have said Westminster is presiding over a "great renewables robbery" as it can be revealed Scottish renewables projects will be hit with a £1bn bill to use the UK grid.
Meanwhile, projects in England and Wales are paid to connect.
Data obtained under Freedom of Information by industry body the National Energy System Operator (Neso) – and shared with The Scotsman – shows that forecast generation charges in 2030/31 for projects in Scotland will hit £960 million while developments in England and Wales are forecast to receive a net payment of £436m that same year.
Transmission charges are currently based on the distance between where the electricity is produced and where it is used, meaning that renewable projects like onshore and offshore windfarms in Scotland built miles from any residents have to pay more to connect their energy to the grid.
The charges were designed to encourage generators to build close to consumers but critics – including the SNP – say it ultimately favours projects closer to large cities in the south of England.
Hitting out at the revelations, SNP candidate for Aberdeen South Richard Thomson said that Wesminster is “destroying renewables jobs” and called for the transmission charging regime to end.
“These crippling transmission charges are uniquely applied to Scottish projects while equivalent sites in England are subsidised – it is a great renewables robbery and it will hit Scottish firms with a £1bn bombshell,” he said.
“Scotland’s wind, waters and workforce are powering homes across these islands, but Westminster is risking the renewables revolution we stand ready to capitalise upon while destroying the oil and gas industry we have today.”
Thomson added: “It’s Scotland’s energy and it should be in Scotland’s hands, not Westminster’s because for every day it is, is another day of Scotland’s potential wasted.
“Only the SNP is on the side of our energy sector and we will never stand by as Westminster casts workers here on the scrapheap, so let it be said very clearly - we can protect the world class oil and gas sector we have today and build another world class renewables industry right by its side.”
A UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “We are reversing decades of underinvestment and delivering the biggest upgrade to the grid as we work to halve the time it takes to build new transmission infrastructure by reforming the planning system.
“Neso has made clear that driving for clean energy saves money by fundamentally reducing our exposure to fossil fuel markets – its report shows we could save £36 billion annually if we hit our 2050 goals compared with a scenario in which we slow down.
“We are looking at transmission charges as part of our reformed national pricing review and will update in due course.”
