Parliamentary questions
Liam McArthur
3,646 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what economic assessment it has made of each project supported by the Renewable Energy Investment Fund.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: All applications to REIF are assessed for their additional socio- economic impact through consideration of the scale and nature of benefits, (renewable energy generated/ electricity decarbonised, Gross Value Added/ jobs created, community benefits and private…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what projects the Renewable Energy Investment Fund has supported and what private sector support was leveraged for each.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: REIF has to date offered support to three deals alongside significant private sector investment. A strong pipeline of projects is under consideration.
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what annual spending was expected from the Renewable Energy Investment Fund when it was established.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Renewable Energy Investment Fund was capitalised with £103 million to be distributed over the current spending review period (2012 - 2015). That is still the intention. The annual spend will reflect the needs of industry and community developers.
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications it has received for funding from the Renewable Energy Investment Fund.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Since launched in October 2012, there has been a good level of interest in REIF from a wide variety of sources with 95 enquiries received which have been, or are being, considered by the REIF delivery team covering all priority sectors; of these, some have be…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13001 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, how many expressions of interest were received for the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012 and have been received in 2013.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Through the development of the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise worked closely with the identified ports and therefore encouraged them to submit expressions of interest in the National Renew…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-12998 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, what funding packages are in place for the ports not listed in the answer and how much private sector funding has been leveraged; how many jobs have been delivered, and what economic benefit has been assessed i…
Answer · Fergus Ewing: National Renewables Infrastructure Fund is available to all ports that meet the criteria for funding.
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-12998 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, how much private sector investment has been leveraged into the wider renewables industry through projects supported by the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund at (a) Port of Dundee, (b) Port of Leith, (c) R…
Answer · Fergus Ewing: In terms of the wider picture of investment into the renewables industry more generally Scottish Renewables have recently published an assessment of investment into renewables in 2011. This is based on the capacity installed in each technology multiplied by e…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S4W-12998 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, how much private sector investment has been leveraged into the projects supported by the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund at (a) Port of Dundee, (b) Port of Leith, (c) Rosyth, (d) Methil, (e) Hunterston, (f) Inch…
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Scottish Enterprise are investing in project development at Dundee, Leith and Rosyth and in project delivery at Methil, Hunterston, Inchgreen and Westway. Similarly Highlands and Islands Enterprise are investing in project development at Kishorn and Wick and…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13005 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, how it assesses the economic impact of a project prior to receiving investment from the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund and what assessment it made for each project that the fund has supported.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise follow Treasury Green Book guidance in assessing ex ante economic benefit of investments. Each project supported has been assessed accordingly.
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13004 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, what proportion of the progress toward a cumulative benefit to gross value added of £7.1 billion it attributes to the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: National Renewables Investment Fund forms part of a suite of support that Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise have in place to assist the development of this new industry in Scotland. Investment in manufacturing sites is critical to securi…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13004 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, how it will assess the economic benefit of expenditure from the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Assessment of the economic benefit of National Renewables Infrastructure Fund will follow standard Treasury Green Book guidance.
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13003 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, whether it will provide a breakdown of the sectors and nature of the estimated 28,000 jobs that the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund aims to help deliver.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The figure of up to 28,000 jobs in offshore wind were estimated in the Creating an Industry report commissioned from independent consultants IPA Energy and Water Economics which provided the baseline data for Scotland's Offshore Wind Route Map. The report est…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13003 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, how it will measure its success in delivering the estimated 28,000 jobs that the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund aims to help deliver.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Projects supported by Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise develop a Monitoring and Evaluation framework, which follows Treasury Green Book approach. Overall at a programme level Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise moni…
7 Mar 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13003 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2013, whether it will provide an estimate of the jobs delivered by each of the projects supported by the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund and whether it is on course to create the estimated 28,000 jobs.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: In the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan (N-RIP 2) an analysis was carried out to identify the potential direct job benefits arising from the development of all the sites identified. This illustrated that should all the sites be developed for their assu…
27 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what national incentives and subsidies are in place for universities that wish to develop their own combined heat and power plants.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13327 on 13 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentaryb…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many combined heat and power plants there are and what each plant’s (a) daily and (b) annual output is.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The most recent data published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) shows in 2011, there were 116 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants in Scotland. The Scottish Government does not hold data on the output of individual plants.
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of Scotland's demand for (a) electricity and (b) heating district heating schemes meet.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: (a) The Scottish Government does not hold figures for the amount of electricity generated by Combined Heat and Power plants which supply district heating schemes. (b) The Energy Saving Trust in Scotland estimate that, in 2012, district heating schemes provid…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what average (a) amount of electricity is produced and (b) number of homes and businesses are heated by each district heating scheme.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13322 on 13 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentaryb…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many and what percentage of businesses are not connected to the national gas grid.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally.
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many and what percentage of businesses are not connected to the national electricity grid.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally.
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many and what percentage of homes are not connected to the national gas grid.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Data from the Scottish Household Conditions Survey show that in 2011 there were an estimated 493,000 dwellings not connected to the national gas grid, 15.3% of all dwellings. Please see the follwing link: http://sh45inta/Publications/2012/12/4995/4.
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many and what percentage of homes are not connected to the electricity grid.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally.
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the demand for (a) electricity and (b) heating is met by (i) biomass and (ii) combined heat and power plants.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Figures for electricity and heat from biomass and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants are set out in the following table. It is important to note that figures for (i) biomass include some some of the electricity and heat generated by CHP plants including und…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the demand for (a) electricity and (b) heating was in the last year for which information is available.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: (a) Demand for electricity in Scotland in 2011, against which the renewable electricity target is measured, was 37,857 GWh. (b) The renewable heat target is measured against Scotland’s forecast 2020 non-electrical heat demand, estimated to be 60,089 GWh. W…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what national incentives and subsidies are in place for large institutions that wish to develop their own combined heat and power plants.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13327 on 13 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentaryb…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to encourage the development of new combined heat and power plants for industrial and commercial use.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Support is available for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) from a number of sources. Most are available to any organisation who wishes to develop Combined Heat and Power Plants (CHP), such as the main direct support mechanisms for renewable Combined Heat and Powe…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many district heating schemes will be developed by 2020.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: We do not currently have projections for the number of district heating that will be developed by 2020. We are considering how to set out projections for district heating, across the range of different district heating models, in our response to The Expert Co…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many combined heat and power plants will be developed by 2020.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-12934 on 5 March 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybu…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for how many homes on average each district heating scheme provides electricity and heat.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: District heating schemes provide the infrastructure to supply heat from a range of sources. The source can be heat only or can be a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant which also generates electricity. There is also a wide variety of district heating models,…
26 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many district heating schemes are active.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Energy Saving Trust in Scotland (EST) carried out a survey of district heating in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government. The results of the survey indicate that there are 103 active district heating schemes in Scotland. These vary considerably in …