Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to announce voluntary Contracts for Difference auctions for on shore wind in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.

Onshore wind is an established (Group 1) technology for the purposes of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. No decisions have been taken on running an allocation round for these technologies but if one was run, onshore wind projects in Scotland would be eligible to apply.

The Government is seeking state aid approval to classify remote island wind as a separate technology in Group 2 of the CfD scheme. This could include some onshore wind projects proposed for the remote islands of Scotland, including in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. The Clean Growth Strategy announced that we would provide up to £557m in total of annual funding for Group 2 technologies.