SNP and Greens urged to raise solar power target as part of coalition deal
SNP ministers and the Greens are being urged to set a stretching but achievable target to massively increase Scotland s capacity for solar power as part of formal power-sharing talks.
Monday, 19th July 2021, 4:55 am
Solar panels in a field as SNP ministers and the Scottish Greens are being urged to set a stretching but achievable target to massively increase Scotland s capacity for solar power. Picture: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
Solar industry calls on SNP and Greens to set ‘stretching’ target for sector July 19, 2021, 12:06 am
Solar Energy Scotland wants to see a ‘stretching but achievable’ target set for the sector (Steve Parsons/PA)
SNP ministers and the Scottish Greens are being urged to set a “stretching but achievable” target to massively increase Scotland’s capacity for solar power as part of formal powersharing talks.
Solar power currently only has the capacity to provide 372MW (megawatts) of electricity in Scotland but industry leaders believe that could be upped to 6GW (gigawatts) – or 6,000MW – by the end of the decade.
Solar Energy Scotland argues such a move could help boost the economy, saying every gigawatt of new solar capacity delivers more than £600 million in additional economic activity and creates 500 full-time equivalent jobs.
SNP and Greens to set target for solar revolution in government talks THE SNP and Greens have been urged to make a massive increase in solar power a key part of joint government talks, to complement Scotland’s wind power revolution. As Glasgow prepares to host the COP26 climate change conference in November, the solar industry said the country could increase its capacity almost 20-fold by 2030. Solar Energy Scotland said current electricity capacity of 372 megawatts could be raised to six gigawatts (6000 megawatts) if politicians adopted a “stretching but achievable” target. In a letter to Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, the trade body said Scotland had already set a target for offshore wind potentially supplying 11GW by the end of the decade, and a similar ambitious goal should be set for solar.
Scotland’s solar power is in the spotlight amid talks that could see Greens in the Cabinet
SNP ministers and the Scottish Greens are being urged to set a “stretching but achievable” target to massively increase Scotland’s capacity for solar power as part of formal powersharing talks. Solar power currently only has the capacity to provide 372MW (megawatts) of electricity in Scotland but industry leaders believe that could be upped to 6GW (gigawatts) – or 6000MW – by the end of the decade. Solar Energy Scotland argues such a move could help boost the economy, saying every GW of new solar capacity delivers more than £600 million in additional economic activity and creates 500 full-time-equivalent jobs.
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