Phil has urged the UK Government
to ensure support for small-scale hydro in an early day motion in
the House of Commons.
Small
scale hydro has been supported via the Feed-in-Tariff, which has been highly
successful. 177MW of small scale hydro is now available in Scotland,
representing 75 percent of UK capacity. In addition, hydro has the lowest
lifetime cost of all renewable technologies.
However,
deep cuts have been proposed by the Conservative-led UK Government to the
Feed-in-Tariff for small scale hydro. Leading organsations in the renewables sector,
including Scottish Renewables and the British Hydropower Association, have
raised concern about the impact of these cuts.
Concerning
the proposed cuts, Phil said:
“At a time of tightening electricity
capacity margins and concerns over climate change, additional clean energy
generation via small scale hydro is more important than ever. And with the
negative impact the cuts announced in the Budget will have on working
households, it is essential that we protect the jobs in the renewable energy
and construction sectors.”