The head of Scotland’s solar trade group has criticized plans to reform the electricity grid to allow greater uptake of rooftop solar, noting that Scotland will not benefit from the proposed reforms.
Last week, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) released a proposal to increase the threshold for conducting a Transmission Infrastructure Assessment (TIA) from 1MW to 5MW. The current TIA process has been criticized for creating cost and bureaucratic barriers, effectively blocking many local energy projects of more than 1 MW. As such, industry trade group Solar Energy UK praised the plans as removing “a burdensome element of red tape that has added many years to getting projects off the ground”.
However, Solar Energy Scotland has criticized the fact that due to technical details in the way Scotland’s electricity grid is set up, the TIA threshold in Scotland will not be increased above the current level of 200kW, something the trade group notes it will undermine Scotland’s solar sector. and jeopardizing Scotland’s own climate and energy targets, such as its ambition of 4 to 6 GW of solar by 2030.”
“While certainly welcome south of the border, this move will put Scottish businesses at a disadvantage, not to mention the Scottish economy, energy security and decarbonisation efforts. We need to scrap these overly cautious bureaucratic rules in Scotland in the same way as England and Wales to maintain a level playing field,” said Josh King, Chairman of Solar Energy Scotland.
Furthermore, the plan to widen the gap between the English and Scottish TIA thresholds has been cited as a potential risk to future investment in Scottish renewables, with Solar Energy Scotland calling the issue a “critical issue for Scotland’s renewable energy sector”.
In 2024, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) increased the TIA threshold in Scotland from 50 kW to the current level of 200 kW, a move that proved hugely successful for small-scale solar installations in Scotland. The increase in the threshold accelerated the approval and delivery of 35 projects in central and northern Scotland with a combined capacity of 5.2 MW.
Scotland’s ambitions for rooftop solar
In June 2024, the Scottish Government abolished planning permission requirements for solar installations on the roof of houses, allowing the installation of flat roof systems on houses with permitted development rights, as long as they do not rise more than one meter above the roof surface.
However, just days after announcing this change, the Scottish Government withdrew a scheme that provided interest-free loans to Scottish homeowners wanting to install solar panels or battery energy storage systems (BESS) at home. Solar Energy Scotland later urged the government to reinstate the system, estimating that every £10 million allocated to interest-free solar and battery loans – all of which would be repaid – would result in as many as 1,000 households would install these technologies.
Solar Energy Scotland has previously criticized the Scottish Government for lagging behind on rooftop solar standards, noting that the Scottish Government’s suggestion that new buildings be built to the Passivhaus ‘Classic’ energy efficiency standard is outdated as the Passivhaus Classic energy efficiency standard has already been established. replaced by the ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’ forms.
Unlike Classic Passivhaus, both newer versions of the standard mandate the installation of renewable energy systems in new buildings.
