Scotland, Renewable Energy and the Independence Debate: Will Head or Heart Rule the Roost?

David Toke*, Fionnguala Sherry-Brennan, Richard Cowell, Geraint Ellis, Peter Strachan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Political support for renewable energy development, especially offshore renewables, is particularly conspicuous in Scotland and is a centrepiece of SNP policy. However, this is built on something of a paradox because, put simply, without the subsidies paid by electricity consumers in the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government's ambitious targets for renewable energy would be politically unachievable. We argue in this paper that if Scotland does move towards independence, then there could be little reason for the UK to continue paying (much) of the subsidies since the resulting renewable generation would no longer contribute towards UK renewable energy targets. We suggest that the potential scenarios, and their implications, needs to be far better considered in the arguments around the Scottish constitutional position and the broader aims of UK energy policy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)61-70
Number of pages10
JournalPolitical Quarterly
Volume84
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Scotland
  • Independence
  • Devolution
  • renewable energy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Scotland, Renewable Energy and the Independence Debate: Will Head or Heart Rule the Roost?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this