Council says proposed transmission charges will disadvantage islands

Proposed transmission charges outlined by Ofgem will disadvantage Orkney’s renewables future —  that’s according to the OIC in its response to a consultation by the national energy regulator.

In its detailed response, the OIC argues against Ofgem’s preferred option for setting charges based on a variation of the present distance-related charging regime.

This would leave Orkney renewables projects, together with those on the other two Scottish island groups, with much higher transmission charges than projects on the UK mainland – in fact, six times higher than the adjacent mainland zone of north of Scotland, which itself is higher than all other UK zones.

The council submission proposes several ways of using Ofgem’s own methodology to bring transmission charges for the islands closer to those proposed for the mainland.

Copies of the council’s submission are available from www.orkney.gov.uk.