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The Energy Saving Trust (EST), on behalf of the Scottish Government, publishes the annual Community and Locally Owned Energy in Scotland (COLO) Report.

This reports against six specific ownership categories (Farm & Estate, Local Authority, Local Business, Community, Housing Association, and Public Sector and Charity) with ownership then broken down by technology and distribution by local authority area. This last category groups public sector and charity organisations together as they are commonly considered not for profit organisations.

The latest report states that, as of December 2023, there are 92 MW of operational capacity across 12,110 installations in the Public Sector and Charity category, across a range of technologies.

As confirmed in the Programme for Government, we will shortly publish the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan to support Scotland’s just transition to a green economy.

Scottish Government capital investment is primarily focussed on the demand sectors of heat, transport and industry.

In support of the delivery of our energy ambitions this financial year (2024-2025) we have allocated:

• over £145 million for active travel, in addition to the over £2 billion we invest in public transport annually.
• £266 million budget for Heat in Buildings.
• £12.2 million for hydrogen projects.
• £9 million to Scotland’s manufacturing industries through the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
• £2 million to support the Acorn Carbon transport and storage project.
• Our Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray continues to support a range of pioneering projects with an allocation of £16.4 million

Funding for future years will be subject to annual budget allocations.

Communities are at the heart of our renewable energy ambitions, and we are committed to working with partners to ensure the delivery of renewable energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland and contributes to community wealth building (CWB).

Where communities have an ownership stake in energy production, we are seeing surpluses being used to support local employment and other initiatives. For example, in North Tolsta, on Lewis, one of five Scottish Government Community Wealth Building pilot areas, revenue from a community owned wind turbine supports local jobs, provides grants for home energy improvements and offers financial support for young people attending further and higher education.

The Community Energy Generation Growth Fund, through our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), recently awarded £1.5 million in grants to 19 community groups across Scotland to develop their own renewable energy projects. These communities are able to earn money from their projects, for example by selling excess energy generation.

Scotland has a current reported potential pipeline of over 40 GW of offshore wind projects. ScotWind reflects very significant market ambition for offshore wind in Scottish waters – around 28 GW across 20 projects.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with the UK Government to discuss the development and implementation of initiatives to support the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland and across the UK.

For example, we have worked closely with the UK Government on its plans to introduce a Sustainable Industry Reward (SIR) into the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. The SIR will help drive investment in the supply chain here in Scotland and across the UK, and into greener supply chains globally.

The supply chain development statement process has been carefully designed and is managed by Crown Estate Scotland to ensure focus is maintained on supply chain capacity and capability to develop and deliver offshore wind projects in Scotland.

Since the ScotWind announcements, Crown Estate Scotland have conducted webinars and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, to provide information and updates on the supply chain development statement SCDS process.

The Scottish Government also continues to actively engage with the Just Transition Partnership, and individual trade unions, on a range of issues, including in relation to support for the Scottish supply chain and securing a Just Transition for our offshore energy workers.

The Scottish Government is committed to maximising the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential, and ensuring a just transition that takes our existing skilled workforce with us.

The Scottish Government is working closely with Forth Green Freeport and Forth Ports as a consortium member, to ensure that it delivers maximum positive impact as soon as possible, including at the tax site in Leith where a renewable energy hub is being developed and a potential customs site at Edinburgh Airport. This includes regular engagement at official level to support the development of their recently submitted full business case.

Scottish Ministers have had a number of engagements with Forth Ports in the last few months about the company’s challenges and opportunities as they look to support a just transition to a decarbonised economy. This includes a visit of Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop to Port of Grangemouth on 6 March 2024, a meeting between Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes with Forth Ports CEO Stuart Wallace on 12 July and a visit to the Leith tax site of Forth Green Freeport of Minister for Employment and Investment Tom Arthur together with UK Government Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds on 22 August 2024.

Green Freeports will play a crucial role in the Scottish Government’s commitment to a just transition to net zero, by creating clusters of high-tech manufacturing excellence in low carbon sectors and high-quality, well-paid new jobs within these sectors.

Within the National Electricity Supply Framework no power is procured from community – owned energy providers.

The framework has been set up to supply electricity to all of the Scottish Public sector. The supplier on the framework is required to purchase power on the futures market through a risk managed hedging strategy. The strategy is owned by a Risk Management Committee who represent all of the main Public Sector bodies.

The framework supplier needs to ensure it has the capacity to secure forward purchases on behalf of all framework customers. The supplier also needs to account manage each individual customer organisation including billing, invoicing, meter reading queries, complaints, energy efficiency queries, and social value programmes within the framework. As well as managing the consumption for over 30,000 meters for electricity that are part of the portfolio. Therefore, the supplier needs to have capacity to trade large volumes and achieve Value For Money for the whole Scottish public sector.

The National Electricity Framework is used by all sectors including, Local Authorities, NHS bodies, Universities and Colleges, Central Government inc NDPBs and agencies, Housing Associations, Charities etc. The split of % usage of the electricity framework is as follows:

All 32 local authorities use the national Framework for the Supply of Electricity, however if local authorities are also getting electricity from another source or another contract, then Scottish Government do not have visibility of this and this information would only be available from each individual local authority.

The Scottish Government has not made a recent assessment of the legislative requirement for Crown Estate Scotland to obtain market value in its transactions. An assessment is not required under the Scottish Crown Estate Act 2019.