Powering a planning framework for net zero

Sharing our views on the draft NPF4, SSEN Transmission’s Head of Consents and Environment, Richard Baldwin, explains how a supportive and enabling planning framework can pave the way to a net zero future.

The north of Scotland is home to some of the UK’s greatest resources of renewable electricity and Scotland’s transmission network has a key arterial role to play in this. You can’t reap the benefits of a low carbon society without critical and timely investment in supporting grid infrastructure.

Our network area in the north of Scotland will play an outsized role in meeting the UK and Scotland’s renewable energy targets, contributing up to 10% of the UK’s Net Zero goal. To enable this we’re progressing strategic investments in our grid network to connect ScotWind and Scotland’s remote islands, increase network capacity in Skye, Argyll, the North East and the Highlands all while boosting rural resilience and security of supply. The required growth in our network to support a net zero future is demonstrated in this animation here, delivering jobs, supply chain opportunities and an expected £4bn of investment from March 2021 to April 2026 (with the potential for an additional £5bn of investment out to the early 2030s).

Scotland’s planning framework will play a fundamental enabling role for net zero infrastructure which will support our green economy and deliver our collective climate goals. We’ve recently submitted our response to the Scottish Government’s draft NPF4 consultation which closed last week, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to engage in this process as the final planning framework is developed.

Overall, we’re incredibly supportive of the overarching objectives of the draft framework which aims to tackle the twin climate and biodiversity emergencies, whilst also supporting a just transition to net zero. However, as the final framework is developed, we believe that some critical changes to the draft, particularly on some of the policies that conflict with these aims, will be necessary to fully realise NPF4’s ambitions for the benefit of our communities, the environment and the climate:

• Firstly, when it comes to planning policy, flexibility, consistency and certainty will be key to deliver critical national infrastructure, where comprehensive evidence and need supports delivery. Some of the policies in the current draft of NPF4 are conflicting and create barriers to further grid and renewable energy development, which in turn creates delays and blockers to net zero and renewable energy targets.

• Secondly, we believe that a strengthening of the wording and meaning of National Developments, of which transmission infrastructure is included, will be needed to highlight the critical, absolute and urgent need for these types of development to deliver our decarbonisation goals.

• Thirdly, as one of the first developers to consult upon and implement a sector leading Biodiversity Net Gain strategy, it’s clear that there is a need to create clear Biodiversity objectives in the final framework to help secure long-term enhancements in biodiversity. This should include a transparent and quantifiable measure of biodiversity to allow consistent and equitable assessment, reporting and monitoring of biodiversity impacts and outcomes.

• And last but not least, successful delivery of Scotland’s planning ambitions will be dependent on a supportive planning process that is responsive to the levels of investment required to achieve Scotland’s climate goals - having adequate levels of planning skills resource will be key to unlocking this, along with determination and commitment to streamline decision making. Increasing fees on its own won’t support better quality and timely decision making without further investment in resource and skills planning (and the ring fencing of fees) to directly improve planning determination outcomes.

We believe that a revised NPF4, which recognises the above, can lay the groundwork, for a clear, responsive, flexible and well-resourced consenting process to enable timely delivery of low carbon infrastructure at the pace and scale to meet our climate goals. The planning system will be a critical catalyst to power change and climate action, and we look forward to supporting delivery of the final NPF4’s objectives, and Scotland and the UK’s climate ambitions, as we deliver a network for net zero.