Small hydro schemes face charges blow from Sepa
Scottish businesses investing in small-scale renewable projects are facing the prospect of another blow to their profitability it was claimed yesterday – with the revelations that smallscale hydro schemes face the possibility of monitoring charges costing thousands of pounds a year.
And increasingly those who have answered government calls for more green energy feel they have been hoodwinked into making significant capital expenditure – only to be hit by increased costs a few years down the line.
Following on from recent uncertainties over feed-in tariffs and earlier shocks of huge hikes in rate bills, Scotland’s 300 hydro schemes operating in the 0.1 – 2 MW range could now face additional costs of around £3,000 a year. A new fee regime for the monitoring of hydro schemes, included in a consultation document released by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), would see larger hydro providers have their costs reduced – whilst smaller schemes, previously exempt from monitoring charges, would pick up new bills.
Scottish Land & Estates, which represents rural businesses across the country, said the additional expenditure – coming on top of proposals to limit
0 Small-scale hydro-electric producers hit by new charges biofuel-powered drying plants, including grain driers, from payment under the Renewable Heat Incentive – was yet another disincentive to businesses to invest in the renewables sector.
Alexander Linklater of Alba Energy, a grouping of independent hydro operators in Scotland, said: “Hydro power, as one strand of Scotland’s drive towards renewable energy sources, has been heavily encouraged by government over the past decade. It was rightly recognised as clean and environmentally friendly technology. Crucially, it has been promoted by government as a way for the rural economy to diversify its activities but is continuing to face economic hurdles placed in its way.
“The fees are disproportionately high and appear to be a mechanism to raise funds towards the running of Sepa in other areas.”
He said that it Sepa recognised that hydro had a net gain for the environment with very few problems in their operation – but the scale of the charges threatened to breach any trust operators had in the organisation, with explanations of the charges being “either incoherent or incomprehensible”.
“Small hydro providers are happy to pay for the costs that Sepa incurs as a result of our operations,” he said. “We are not happy to pay for costs that Sepa incurs in other areas of its work.”
Gavin Mowat, policy officer at Scottish Land & Estates, said that hydro had been heavily promoted by government – and was more reliable than wind power. “It is disappointing, however, that we continue to see the viability of small hydro schemes placed under increasing strain despite the wide-ranging commitment to renewable energy,” he said.