BNEF: Scottish independence presents a danger for clean-energy projects
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Scottish independence threatens to dampen renewable-energy investments and hold off decisions on projects because of uncertainty over regulation and support from a new administration.
“The No. 1 priority for Europe’s energy sector is to achieve higher levels of market and technical integration, to balance variable renewable energy generation,” says chairman of the advisory board for the London-based researcher Michael Liebreich. “Any change that threatens that, especially if it creates a long period of uncertainty, is a step in the wrong direction.”
Scotland has about 5.7 gigawatts of approved projects, representing more than $12 billion of investment, BNEF said in a report. Even before a possible “yes” vote, project delays mean Scotland is unlikely to meet its 2020 target to get all its electricity from clean sources, according to the report. At the moment the country receives almost half of its electricity from renewables.
Scotland possesses “huge energy resources and potential and long established commitments to support the development of a range of technologies,” the regional government said last month. The U.K.’s “complex and slow moving” energy-market policy changes were the sole cause of any investment delays, it said.
England and Wales imported less than 4 percent of their power consumption from Scotland in 2012, compared with 4.7 percent from Europe, the BNEF report showed. Scotland may be more reliant on England and Wales as a customer for its power than England and Wales are on Scotland as a generator, BNEF said.
“Our concern is that in the event of a ‘yes’ vote, there could be a loss of momentum as investors worry about the likely price and market for electricity their projects could generate,” said Angus McCrone, a senior analyst for BNEF.
Activists disperse over Scotland in the final countdown to a Sept. 18 referendum, with the pro-independence “yes” and pro-union “no” campaigns both saying they are definitely to win.
