Scotland home to 100% of UK hydropower projects

Scotland is now home to all of the UK's hydropower projects, according to research from Scottish Renewables.

While there are currently no projects proceeding in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, there are 27 schemes (worth 26.8MW) with planning consent in Scotland, enough to power 42,000 homes, while another 14 are currently under construction.

Cuts to support under the Feed-in Tariff last year have been linked to the industry's decline in the rest of the UK, which had previously seen a rise in use.

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Hannah Smith, Policy Officer at industry body Scottish Renewables, said: “These figures show that a huge cut to support in the UK Government's Feed-in Tariff review in December has already caused a contraction in the number of schemes being developed and, it seems, a geographical withdrawal to hydro's traditional heartland.

“Hydropower provides green electricity with very low environmental impacts. Properly-maintained turbines can produce power for more than 80 years, and hydro enjoys huge public support, so it was particularly galling to see cuts of 37% imposed on the sector last year.”