On 2nd April the Scottish Parliament will consider a petition to make offering Community Shared Ownership mandatory for all new windfarm developments.
The petition was written by Karen Murphy, a concerned citizen from Kintyre, and supported by East Kintyre Renewable Energy Group (EKREG), a volunteer organisation aiming to highlight and secure socio-economic opportunities for local communities from shared ownership.
The petitioner is calling for a new statutory right for impacted communities to be offered a share in renewable energy developments.
They want to see a “coherent political response” which enables communities to own 15% of new windfarms.
In Denmark, 67% of onshore wind is co-owned by citizens through shared ownership, while German communities benefit from owning 50% of onshore wind.
In Scotland, only 0.2% of onshore wind is co-owned by communities, despite the Scottish Government having set an ambition in 2017 that “by 2020, at least half of newly consented renewable energy projects will have an element of shared ownership”.
The ‘Share the Wind’ petition has been under consideration for over three years, and next week’s meeting will be the eighth time that the petition has been discussed in the Scottish Parliament.
The Scottish Government has stated that the power to mandate shared ownership rests with the UK Government.
Holyrood has urged the UK Government to “explore mandating” shared ownership.
The Scottish Community Coalition on Energy has suggested that even without Westminster’s backing, the Scottish Government could use planning powers or place conditions on public land leases to incentivise renewables developers to secure community buy-in through co-ownership.
Morven Lyon from Scottish Community Coalition on Energy said:
“Community shared ownership of renewables is essential to a Just Transition, as it empowers communities by providing them with greater control, enhancing financial resilience, and promoting sustainability.
“By sharing the wealth generated from renewables, it aligns with Scotland’s Community Wealth Building approach to strengthen local economies.
“However, shared ownership rates are still shockingly low compared to Europe.
“Developers must engage proactively to ensure local participation and benefit, and communities need much more support to take advantage.”
A spokesperson for EKREG said:
“We have spent the last 6 years discussing shared ownership with the many businesses planning windfarm developments in the area and have yet to receive a meaningful offer.
“The Scottish Government’s guidance is simply not robust enough to convince developers to make worthwhile offers to communities.”
Petitioner Karen Murphy said:
“The Scottish Government has admitted to the Petitions Committee that it has the powers under Planning legislation, the Scotland Act and the Land Registration Act of 2012 to implement laws which would effectively make community shared ownership mandatory, but whenever it is pushed for details on implementing them it simply states that energy is a reserved matter for the UK Government, so it is wonderful to see the Scottish Community Coalition on Energy taking up this cause for a Just Transition.”
