Technical Notes 2026, Issue 41 - Proposed Council response to the Scottish Government consultation on onshore electricity consultation thresholds

• The purpose of this Technical Note is to advise Members of a current Scottish Government consultation on onshore electricity consultation thresholds and to provide an opportunity for Members to comment on the draft response. The consultation closes on 27 March 2026.

• At present, Scottish Ministers are responsible for deciding applications to build, operate or modify onshore electricity generating stations with capacities exceeding 50 megawatts (MW). Applications concerning stations with capacities of 50 MW or less are largely decided by planning authorities. This consultation is inviting views on increasing the 50 MW threshold which determines whether applications for onshore electricity generating stations are made to Scottish Ministers or the relevant planning authority

• The ‘Onshore electricity generation: Consultation on increasing the threshold for applications under the Electricity Act’ document was published on the Scottish Government’s website on 30 December 2025, with the consultation running until 27 March 2026. The document sets out supportive reasons for increasing the threshold for such applications but does not propose a specific alternative threshold or provide detailed proposals

• The paper states that “tackling the climate emergency has led to a significant increase in proposals for new electricity generation and storage. Our statistics show that the volume of applications made to Scottish Ministers has more than quadrupled over the last 20 years, with 15 applications made between 2001/03 and 70 applications made between 2021/23”. In addition to a significant increase in relevant applications, the paper also cites a commitment by the Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee as a driver for bringing forward this consultation. The paper notes that increasing the threshold by which applications should be considered by Scottish Ministers is supportive of the Verity House Agreement (30 June 2023), which states that decision-making should be ‘local by default, national by agreement’, recognising that public responsibilities shall generally be exercised, in preference, by those authorities which are closest to the citizen

• For clarity, the technologies considered under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 include:

  • Solar Photovoltaics

  • Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

  • Wind Onshore

  • Hydro Power

  • Energy from Waste Incineration (EfW)

  • Bioenergy 

  • Pumped Storage Hydro

  • Proposals for technologies which the Scottish Government has a policy of no support, such as nuclear power or oil and gas fuelled power stations.

• Whilst the consultation paper does not set out a preferred option for a new threshold(s), it presents 100MW and 150MW as possible options (alongside the option to keep the threshold at 50MW). For comparison, it should be noted that the only recent s36 application that the Council has dealt with – installation of a battery energy storage system at Cochno Road, Bearsden ref ENQ/ED/2024/00009 – proposes a capacity of up to 560MW and therefore significantly exceeds any of the new thresholds being suggested

• Whilst applications for generating stations with capacities exceeding 50MW are determined by the Scottish Government under the current arrangements, the Council is a statutory consultee in the process and that responding to the consultation can often require significant input from the Council.   As such, planning authorities are currently assigned a voluntary contribution, amounting to 50% of the fee paid to Scottish Ministers for applications made under the Electricity Act 1989, so that they can undertake work to consider the application as a statutory consultee.  The consultation paper states that although increasing the threshold for such applications will likely lead to an increase in the number of applications which are to be determined in-house by the planning authority, it would also result in an associated increase in income for authorities, with them instead receiving 100% of the fee

• While fee income would increase, so too would the scale and complexity of applications determined locally, with potential implications for staffing, specialist input and risk exposure.  The consultation does not provide any information regarding the extent to which application fees cover the cost of determining Section 36 applications and whether it is proposed to transfer core funding for staff costs, legal support and other costs along with the transfer of responsibility for determining a greater proportion of Section 36 planning applications

• A draft response to the consultation is provided as an appendix to this Technical Note. If you have any comments on the consultation or the draft response, please respond to the Land Planning Policy team by email at development.plan@eastdunbarton.gov.uk no later than 1pm on 27 March 2026

• Officers will provide a response to the consultation via ‘Citizen Space’ to the Scottish Government’s Directorate for Planning, Architecture and Regeneration. Comments by the deadline of 27 March 2026. 

Question 1) Should there be a single threshold applicable to all technologies?

Yes

Please explain your view

Different technologies will likely have different land use implications; however, the Council has limited experience in dealing with such applications and does not have any relevant information or data that could be called upon to inform what thresholds could be established for the different technologies.   

It is also noted that there may be some benefit in maintaining a single threshold in the interests of simplicity and efficiency.

Question 2) What threshold should apply for applications for electricity generation to be determined by planning authorities?

• 50MW
• 100MW
• 150MW

Please add any comment in support of your answer.

The Council would be comfortable with the new threshold being set at either 100MW or 150MW. 

It is noted however that applying a threshold of 100MW would ensure consistency with other regions within Great Britain.

Question 3) Any change to the threshold would apply only to new applications. Do you have any comments on transitional arrangements?

No

Question 4) Do you have any other comments to add? 

Yes

Please add any comment in support of your answer.

Whilst the Council agrees with the principle of ensuring greater local decision making, there is concern around the additional burden that this could place on planning authorities. 

Whilst it is noted that the intention would be for authorities to be given the full fee for these applications, it is unclear if this currently covers the cost of the determining the applications. Therefore, further information on costs is required, and if necessary, a commitment that authorities would be fully reimbursed for the additional responsibilities they are expected to undertake. 

Another consideration is skills and training to ensure that planning authorities have the expertise to determine the applications. 

There is also a degree of uncertainty in terms of how many applications will be received per authority, as this is a rapidly evolving sector. 

Without proper resourcing and funding, this could lead to negative impacts on performance and other local authority responsibilities.

Question 5) Do you have any comments on the partial and draft impact assessments undertaken?

No

Please add any comment in support of your answer.

Not Applicable

Question 6) Do you have any suggestions for additional sources of information on the potential impacts of the proposals that could help inform our final assessments?

No

Please add any comment in support of your answer.

Not Applicable.