Scotland
UK
Ireland
London
Finance Secretary John Swinney and Energy Minister Jim Mather this morning met Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne.
Mr Huhne is meeting the First Minister this evening, where discussions are expected to cover the UK Government's Electricity Market Reform (EMR) process, ongoing reviews of the transmission charging regime and of Ofgem's regulatory role.
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney said: "Chris Huhne, Jim Mather and I had a useful discussion about a range of important energy issues and I was pleased to hear that Mr Huhne shares our desire to further harness Scotland's vast renewables and clean energy potential.
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"I have been pleased with the close joint working we have had so far with DECC, for instance on the Green Deal, where we are seeking to implement a successful UK wide policy to improve energy efficiency in a way which supports our own Energy Efficiency Action Plan. This is a good example of collaborative working which I would like to see more widely emulated.
"We discussed the Fossil Fuel Levy, nearly 200 million pounds of Scotland's money that is still sitting in a London bank account due to the Treasury's intransigence to release the money as additional spend on renewables for Scotland."
"I urge the UK Government to deliver a pragmatic solution that accelerates the release of funding for Scotland for renewable energy projects that are ready to go now in Scotland. We can and must make progress in the short term ahead of longer term solutions needed to meet the renewable energy investment gap and the investment challenge," he added.
Parliament will tomorrow debate the UK Government's proposed reforms to the electricity market, which have implications for the Scot Govs powers to support renewables, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and control emissions.
(GK)
