SNP Manifesto 2019

STRONGER FOR SCOTLAND
transition, we will demand that 12% of the fund – at
least £1 billion over 5 years – will go to a Net Zero
Industrial Strategy to help diversify the economies
of oil hubs like Aberdeen, Falkirk and Shetland.
Getting the energy mix right
Scotland has already made great strides in greening
our energy production – but there is more we can
and must do.
Nearly 75% of Scotland’s electricity in 2018 came
from renewable sources, and we’ve doubled our
exports of renewable electricity to the rest of the
UK. We’re also investing over £10 million in the
marine energy sector and tidal innovation, as well
as developing a bioenergy action plan through
cutting-edge research.
Wind power output in Scotland hit a record high in the
first half of 2019, producing almost double the amount
of energy required to power all homes in Scotland.
Now, Scotland and the UK must go further and we
are committed to:
• pressing the UK to accelerate action
to decarbonise the gas grid – a critical
recommendation of the CCC,
• ensuring that, from 2024, all new homes must use
renewable or low carbon heat,
• pressing the UK to properly support the
renewables industry or else devolve the powers to
Scotland to let us get on with the job,
• opposing new nuclear power plants and
prioritising investment on cleaner, cheaper forms
of electricity generation, including reform of the
UK support for renewables to ensure it takes into
account wider economic considerations such as
supply chain benefits, not just price, and
• allowing onshore wind and solar power to bid
for ‘contracts for difference’ support – the UK’s
main renewables support mechanism. We will
also seek to ensure that it supports less mature
technologies like floating offshore wind and tidal
stream generation so that Scotland’s economy
benefits from these industries.
SNP MPs will press the case for more support for
the critical renewables industry by proposing a
Green Energy Deal that will:
• ensure green energy projects get the long-term
certainty needed to support investment,
• deliver a wave and tidal energy industrial strategy
with adequate funding,
• allow onshore wind to compete for ‘contracts for
difference’ support – the UK Government’s main
mechanism to support low-carbon electricity
generation,
• reform the punitive transmission charging regime
that discourages investment in Scotland,
• set a clear timescale for the delivery of the
interconnectors to Scotland’s islands,
• press the Tories to ditch their plans to quadruple
the VAT on home solar, and
• support a diesel scrappage scheme if trading in
ultra-low emission vehicles.
To ensure the Scottish supply chain benefits
from the boom in renewable energy, SNP MPs will
demand that the UK Government uses the support
it provides through the contracts for difference
mechanism to ensure that supply chain benefits
are taken into account and that wind energy firms
follow through on promises made to support
domestic supply chains.
Opposing Fracking
Following a comprehensive period of evidencegathering
and consultation, the SNP Scottish
Government has set out a finalised policy of no
support for unconventional oil and gas – such as
‘fracking’ - in Scotland.
This means the Scottish Government will not
issue licences for new unconventional oil and
gas development, and that Scotland’s planning
framework will not support development using
unconventional oil and gas extraction techniques,
including coal bed methane and hydraulic
fracturing, commonly known as ‘fracking’.
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