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This paper analyses and critically discusses the role of regions in implementing renewable energy (RE) policies, examining the relationship between state policy and RE deployment. Using evidence from four case study regions, Apulia and Tuscany in Italy and Wales and Scotland in the UK, the paper teases out some differences in terms of regional competencies to implement RE policies across the two countries. The national governments in both Italy and the UK have constructed regulatory and governance relationships to orchestrate and reorder economic, social and ecological challenges and devolve responsibilities at the sub-national level. This has offered an opportunity for the peculiarities of regional setups to be taken into account and regions have contributed towards the promotion of green and sustainable path development via the route of promoting RE deployment. The paper argues that the downscaling and distribution of responsibility in the cases investigated reflect the capacity and willingness of nation states to respond to and mediate the strategic goals and outcomes formulated at national and international levels. Nevertheless, while the regions investigated display differences in their incentives, capacities and capabilities to increase RE deployment, their ability to act is very much influenced by nation states, stressing the important role of the state in mediating the form and direction of RE deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The paper explores how regional actors engage with energy systems, flows and infrastructures in order to meet particular goals and offers a fine-tuned analysis of how differences arise, highlighting the policy-relevant insights that emerge. Methods: Using a novel framework, the research performs a comparative case study analysis of three regions in Italy and two of the devolved territories of the UK, Wales and Scotland, drawing on interviews and documentary analysis. Results: The paper shows that acknowledging the socio-materialities of renewable energy allows a fine-tuned analysis of how institutions, governance and infrastructure can enable/constrain energy transitions and policy effectiveness at local and regional levels. The heuristic adopted highlights (i) the institutions that matter for renewable energy and their varied effects on regional renewable energy deployment; (ii) the range of agencies involved in strategically establishing, contesting and reproducing institutions, expectations, visions and infrastructure as renewable energy deployment unfolds at the regional level and (iii) the nature and extent of infrastructure requirements for and constraints on renewable energy delivery and how they affect the regional capacity to shape infrastructure networks and facilitate renewable energy deployment. The paper shows how the regions investigated developed their institutional and governance capacity and made use of targets, energy visions and spatial planning to promote renewable energy deployment. It shows that several mediating factors emerge from examining the interactions between regional physical resource endowments and energy infrastructure renewal and expansion. The analysis leads to policy-relevant insights into what makes for renewable energy deployment. Conclusion: The paper contributes to research that demonstrates the role of institutional variations and governance as foundations for geographical differences in the adoption of renewable energy, and carries significant implications for policy thinking and implementation. It shows why and how policy-makers need to be more effective in balancing the range of goals/interests for renewable energy deployment with the peculiarities and specificities of the regional contexts and their infrastructures. The insights presented help to explain how energy choices and outcomes are shaped in particular places, how differences arise and operate in practice, and how they need to be taken into account in policy design, policy-making and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scotland, like many other countries, is undergoing a transition to renewable energy. This paper discusses the social context within which this transition is taking place and which is conditioning the possibilities for energy development and its effects on people. In particular, the paper explores historically-rooted conflicts relating to land rights and wild land protection, considering these issues and their relationship to energy development in terms of landscape justice (i.e. the principle of fairness in the ways people relate to the landscape and to each other through the landscape). Pursuing a more just settlement between people and landscape is often a matter of understanding problematic pasts and working to overcome their harmful legacies. It is argued that there is an important role for heritage practice in helping to deliver energy development which takes the historical, social and cultural context more fully into account and thereby helps to bring about a more just settlement between people and the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an Editorial for the special issue (SI) of Energy Reviews (RSER) dedicated to the 10th International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection SEEP, held in Bled-Slovenia. During the conference more than 300 papers were presented, around 25% of these papers were accepted for this special issue. Papers discussed different topics related to renewable energy, energy storage systems and some environmental issues related to transportation. During this conference Prof Olabi presented a keynote talk on the relation between circular economy and renewable energy, case studies about implementing this concept in Scotland were included in his presentation. This editorial will give a short description on the relation between circular economy and renewable energy, then it will be followed by addressing the accepted papers in this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for a broad evolutionary political economy understanding of local and regional path creation. We adopt a multi-actor and multi-scalar perspective, focusing on the roles of the state and regional policy interventions in mediating the creation of growth paths. The framework interprets attempts in North East England and Scotland to support path creation in the offshore wind sector through evolutionary inspired contextual policies. We demonstrate that the realisation of the these policies remains crucially conditioned by the dynamic and complex interplay between the national political economy of energy market regulation, industrial policy and inter-regional asymmetries in the governance of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale, decentralized and community-owned renewable energy is widely acknowledged to be a desirable feature of low carbon futures, but faces a range of challenges in the context of conventional, centralized energy systems. This paper draws on transition frameworks to investigate why the UK has been an inhospitable context for community-owned renewables and assesses whether anything fundamental is changing in this regard. We give particular attention to whether political devolution, the creation of elected governments for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has affected the trajectory of community renewables. Our analysis notes that devolution has increased political attention to community renewables, including new policy targets and support schemes. However, these initiatives are arguably less important than the persistence of key features of socio-technical regimes: market support systems for renewable energy and land-use planning arrangements that systemically favour major projects and large corporations, and keep community renewables to the margins. There is scope for rolling out hybrid pathways to community renewables, via joint ownership or through community benefit funds, but this still positions community energy as an adjunct to energy pathways dominated by large, corporate generation facilities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy issues are crucial for Scotland. This paper reviews the environmental, social and political questions surrounding energy and environment in general, and analyses the passionate arguments surrounding onshore wind farm developments in Scotland in particular. Scotland has the best onshore and offshore wind resources in Europe, with almost a quarter of the total resource, and onshore wind is now rapidly overtaking hydropower as the renewable technology with the greatest generating capacity. This development has proved highly controversial, with many schemes attracting vociferous public opposition. This review explores the main issues involved and shows that whilst some of the controversy centres on factual issues such as job creation, intermittency or bird mortality, a primary reason why consensus is so elusive is that conflicting values lie at the core of the debate. Issues such as landscape aesthetics, community (dis)empowerment and the relative importance of global and local factors are perceptual, unquantifiable and shaped by personal world views. Consequently, even if all the misinformation provided by those supporting or opposing wind farms was removed, profound disagreements would remain about the appropriate choices for securing Scotland's future power supply. The paper highlights the need to deepen our understanding of the social construction of public attitudes, to develop better criteria for strategic locational guidance and to investigate the potential of emerging development models such as community-scale wind power schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Orkney Islands and surrounding waters (known as the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Strategic Area, PFOW) contain a significant portion of Scotland's tidal and wave energy resource. This paper forms part of a wider study modelling tidal and wave processes, and planned renewable energy extraction, in PFOW using 3D hydrodynamic and spectral wave numerical models. Such hydrodynamic models require a number of spatial data, i.e. high resolution bathymetry, model boundary conditions and measurements for model validation, which are hard to obtain in extreme environments such as PFOW. This paper examines the characteristics and selection criteria of the data used for the development of the models. Most of these data are freely available, and could form part of an open source marine renewable energy hydrodynamic modelling toolbox. In order to include the planned tidal and wave energy developments in the hydrodynamic models of the wider study, realistic tidal and wave device array scenarios are required. However, there is still considerable uncertainty regarding the type of devices that will be deployed and device array layouts. Here, we describe the process undertaken, in consultation with industry, to develop a small number of generic device types and array scenarios for the PFOW, based on insight provided by documentation submitted by developers as part of the Scottish marine licensing process. For tidal developments, an algorithm was developed to determine the site specific array configuration, taking into account the number of turbines, water depth, tidal current direction and the spatial distribution of mean kinetic energy. The wave development sites did not require such detailed site specific placement of devices, and the generic layouts could simply be constructed in most cases without the need for detailed site specific resource characterisation. It is anticipated that the renewable energy industry will be able to adopt our data selection criteria to ensure models developed for environmental impact assessments satisfy the quality requirements of the regulator. Similarly, the methodologies developed for characterising generic device types and array layouts will be useful to academia and government researchers, who do not necessarily have access to detailed device and site specific information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy prosumption has become a common phrase as more householders and communities are producing and consuming their own electricity and heat. Prosumption is a combination of two words: production and consumption, and emerged as a concept at a time when consumers were beginning to be more proactive and take over steps traditionally thought of as ‘production’. In many ways, energy prosumption is nothing new (e.g. wood combustion), yet development of our modern energy system has changed the relationships between energy producers and consumers (e.g. smart meters, renewable energy production). Thus, there is a growing body of research interested in the motivation and conditions for the uptake of microgeneration technologies and the implications to energy infrastructures and big energy producers. However, this ‘energy prosumption’ scholarship generally lacks a strong conceptual foundation and misses the opportunity to build on existing prosumption literature and related debates. This paper brings the wealth of literature on prosumption into the energy context and reflects on the insights offered by a prosumption lens. Our study explores a particular manifestation of prosumption – when a household is simultaneously a producer and consumer of their heat and/or electricity via microgeneration – and we present data from semi-structured interviews with 28 households living with microgeneration technologies in Scotland, UK. Thus, we provide a robust framework from which future research on household and community energy prosumption can build. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of off-grid hybrid wind energy system is financially attractive and more reliable than stand-alone power systems since it is based on more than one electricity generation source. One of the most expensive components in a stand-alone wind-power system is the energy storage system as very often it is oversized to increase system autonomy. In this work, we consider a hybrid system which consists of wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, diesel generator and battery storage. One of the main challenges experienced by project managers is the sizing of components for different sites. This challenge is due to the variability of the renewable energy resource and the load demand for different sites. This paper introduces a sizing model that has been developed and implemented as a graphical user interface, which predicts the optimum configuration of a hybrid system. In particular, this paper focuses on seeking the optimal size of the batteries and the diesel generator usage. Both of these components are seen to be trade-offs from each other. The model simulates real time operation of the hybrid system, using the annual measured hourly wind speed and solar irradiation. The benefit of using time series approach is that it reflects a more realistic situation; here, the peaks and troughs of the renewable energy resource are a central part of the sizing model. Finally, load sensitivity and hybrid system performance analysis are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an investigation of the potential for coordinated charging of electric vehicles to i) reduce the CO 2 emissions associated with their charging by selectively charging when grid carbon intensity (gCO2/kWh) is low and ii) absorb excess wind generation in times when it would otherwise be curtailed. A method of scheduling charge events that seeks the minimum carbon intensity of charging while respecting EV and network constraints is presented via a time-coupled linearised optimal power flow formulation, based on plugging-in periods derived from a large travel dataset. Schedules are derived using real half-hourly grid intensity data; if charging in a particular event can be done entirely through use of renewable energy that would otherwise have been curtailed, its carbon intensity is zero. It was found that if 'dumb' charged from the current UK mainland (GB) grid, average emissions related to electric vehicle (EV) charging are in the range 35–56 gCO2/km; this can be reduced to 28–40 gCO2/km by controlled charging – approximately 20–30% of the tailpipe emissions of an average new petrol or diesel car sold in Europe. There is potential for EVs to absorb excess wind generation; based on the modelled charging behaviour, 500,000 EVs (20% of Scotland's current car fleet) could absorb around three quarters of curtailment at Scotland's largest onshore wind farm. • Electric vehicle (EV) charging is scheduled for minimum carbon intensity. • EVs' potential to absorb excess renewables by charging selectively is investigated. • Real GB grid carbon intensity (gCO 2 /kWh) and wind curtailment data used. • Scheduling can reduce EV emissions from 35 to 56 gCO 2 /km to 28–40 gCO 2 /km. • 500,000 EVs can absorb 75% of curtailment at GB's largest onshore wind farm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the coming decades the Highlands and Islands of Scotland will be transformed as new technologies and infrastructures are installed to exploit wind, wave, and tide power. However, interactions between the region--understood as a sociospatial category shaped by history, culture, and institutions--and these technologies are poorly understood and need to be appreciated in more detail before the changes gather momentum. In this paper we link and extend research around sociotechnical transitions and resource peripheries and use this framework to analyse wind energy projects on the island of Lewis. Our analysis draws attention to transition-periphery dynamics and the ways in which renewable energy projects and particular locations are coshaping each other through these. Building on this case study we suggest implications for the region as a whole, argue that the analytical-normative agenda of sociotechnical transitions should be recast, and highlight the need for more research on sociotechnical transitions and new resource peripheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The transition to renewable energy creates uneven transition-periphery dynamics that involve processes of peripheralization. • Resource grabs are part of the peripheralization processes that reinforce the core-periphery power-dynamics. • Interconnectors can have an instrumental role in resource grabbing. • Community-owned energy is a way for peripheral communities to reassert control and adjust transition-periphery dynamics. • This study highlights the need for further research that focuses on resource peripheries in sociotechnical transitions. Scotland is being transformed as renewable energy resources are being exploited through new developments and infrastructure as part of an energy transition. Scotland has a significant amount of potential onshore and offshore renewable energy available for capture largely located in rural and remote regions. This paper extends the 'transition-periphery' approach developed by Murphy and Smith (2013) and applies it to a set of case study sites in Scotland. This empirical analysis highlights the geographical dynamics being created by the renewable energy transition in Scotland. The results suggest that complex transition-periphery dynamics are being created by renewable energy development in Scotland in which infrastructure, ownership, and scale have particularly important roles in shaping the transition. This study highlights the need for further research that focuses on resource peripheries in sociotechnical transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing usage of marine space has prompted several coastal nations to implement marine spatial planning (MSP). While progressive governments promote the deployment of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in order to meet renewable energy capacity and greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets, offshore RETs become another player operating within a finite and already stressed marine environment. This paper applies the sectoral MSP process employed by Scotland to the Nova Scotia context in order to draft a MSP for the province's tidal energy sector. Applicable legislation is reviewed in order to establish the regulatory authorities with powers to plan for both the marine development and ecosystem protection agendas. The scoping process identifies suitable resource areas based on the operational parameters of commercially viable tidal current turbines (TCTs), while the sustainability appraisal identifies areas of cultural, industry, ecological, and socioeconomic constraint and exclusion. Plan option areas emanating from the applied methodology demonstrated a 238.345 km 2 (98.1%) increase in suitable TCT deployment area than the marine renewable energy areas identified in Nova Scotia's Marine Renewable Energy Act which did not undertake such a methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is an existential global reality that is placing considerable stress on agriculture sectors. With the recognition of the impacts of climate change on food security, there has been a greater uptake of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) to provide climate‐resilient and high‐quality production. Vertical farming (VF) can allow primary production in urban locations as well as reducing seasonality and variability in produce. It is emerging as an alternative to traditional farming methods. This research aimed to explore the major environmental impacts of VF produce in comparison with conventional farming methods, using lettuce as an example crop. Life cycle analysis indicate that electricity consumption by VF account for 91% of the carbon footprint. Under the 2019 Scottish electricity mix, VF did not offer a viable competitor for UK open‐farmed lettuce or Spanish imports in terms of low greenhouse gas emissions (at approximately 1.49 kgCO2 eq. kg−1). However, with increasing use of renewable electricity in the national mix, by 2020, this had dropped to 0.42 kgCO2 eq. kg−1 making it comparable with UK open‐field agriculture (at approximately 0.46 kgCO2 eq. kg−1). Under a 100% renewable electricity generation scenario, VF‐related emissions drop further (to 0.33 kgCO2 eq. kg−1). This would potentially offer a low‐carbon production method not subject to seasonality which is better than that reported by most other production methods and offers higher water and nutrient efficiency. This research highlights green VF as potential alternative for sustainable future produce especially under changing climate scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote the transition towards a low carbon economy, the Scottish Government has adopted ambitious energy-related targets, including generating all electricity from renewable sources by 2020. To achieve this, continued investment will be required across a range of sustainable technologies. Hydropower has a long history in Scotland and the present-day operational capacity of ~1.5 GW already makes a substantial contribution to the national energy budget. In addition, there remains potential for ~500 MW of further development, mostly in the form of small to medium size run-of-river schemes. Climate change is expected to lead to an intensification of the global hydrological cycle, leading to changes in both the magnitude and seasonality of river flows. There may also be indirect effects on water flows, such as changing land use, enhanced evapotranspiration rates and an increased demand for irrigation, all of which could affect the water available for energy generation. In this paper we describe Scotland׳s currently installed hydropower capacity and present a review of the scope for future development. We also review the potential impacts of climate change, highlighting possible adaptation measures as well as key factors likely to determine financial viability over the coming decades. We present a summary of the present state of knowledge regarding the resilience of Scotland׳s hydropower resource to a changing climate, and identify key areas where further research is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large deployment of energy storage solutions will be required by the stochastic and non-controllable nature of most renewable energy sources when planning for higher penetration of renewable electricity into the energy mix. Various solutions have been suggested for dealing with medium- and long-term energy storage. Hydrogen and ammonia are two of the most frequently discussed as they are both carbon-free fuels. In this paper, the authors analyse the energy and cost efficiency of hydrogen and ammonia-based pathways for the storage, transportation, and final use of excess electricity from an offshore wind farm. The problem is solved as a linear programming problem, simultaneously optimising the size of each problem unit and the respective time-dependent operational conditions. As a case study, we consider an offshore wind farm of 1.5 GW size located in a reference location North of Scotland. The energy efficiency and cost of the whole chain are evaluated and compared with competitive alternatives, namely, batteries and liquid hydrogen storage. The results show that hydrogen and ammonia storage can be part of the optimal solution. Moreover, their use for long-term energy storage can provide a significant, cost-effective contribution to an extensive penetration of renewable energy sources in national energy systems. • Assessment of hydrogen and ammonia for wind energy storage. • Accounts the effects of electricity price variability and renewable penetration. • Realistic case study to showcase the proposed framework. • Hydrogen and ammonia selected for high fuel prices and wind power penetration. • Specific policies need to promote renewable-based capacity market infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper assists in determining the realistic amount of power available from tidal range generation on the Solway Firth, utilising the latest turbine information for the estimates. The barrage location that is to yield the largest amount of energy output has been highlighted, standing between Workington and Abbey Head at a length of 30 km, spanning the outermost part of the estuary. Double regulated turbine models from Sulzer Escher Wyss of Zurich and also Andritz Hydro are used to determine the flow and power characteristics for individual turbines over a range of heads. Combining the up to date Andritz model with bathymetry sourced from the Department of Energy, and tidal characteristics (modelled from tidal constituents), the model for the behaviour of a barrage on the Solway for ebb generation is constructed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This letter presents the outcomes of a trial of an active network management (ANM) scheme on part of the North-Scotland electricity network. The ANM scheme has as its goal the facilitation of increased connections of distributed generation (DG) from renewable resources on the Orkney Isles. The ANM scheme is the first multigenerator application of ANM at distribution level in the U.K. The ANM scheme is briefly discussed prior to the trial of the ANM scheme being introduced. The implications of the trial for full ANM roll-out are discussed. The results of the trial of the ANM scheme are of direct relevance to those working in the areas of ANM, smart grids, and advanced distribution automation. The resuIts confirm that wind farms can be controlled within the thermal constraints of a distribution network subject to certain operating margin considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector accounts for 15–20 per cent of Scottish GDP. It is highly capital-intensive and maintaining production, especially of oil and gas, will absorb a large share of business investment over the next 5–10 years. The volatility of revenues from the sector means that an independent Scotland will face much greater difficulties in macro-economic management than as part of the UK. Attempting to fix its exchange rate, either to the pound sterling or the euro, without a system of compensating fiscal transfers will put the burden of adjustment on factor mobility and incomes. Scotland could use a sovereign wealth fund as a stabilizing instrument, but it is starting from a much worse position than Norway and would need to reduce current government spending to build up the fund. The prospects for exporting gas and electricity to the rest of the UK depend upon the terms of access to markets. It seems unlikely that integrated Great Britain markets will survive in their current form. Large exports will continue but the net terms of trade will probably be less favourable to Scotland than at present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) surveys were performed in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, a channel between the Orkney Islands and the northern coast of Scotland connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The Pentland Firth has the highest tidal streams of the British Isles, and one of the highest that can be found around the globe. Here, the tidal energy industry is in its demonstration phase, but not many real current measurements are in the public domain. The authors present real current data, measured during different phases of the tidal cycle, using a vessel-mounted ADCP. The tidal changes can be rapid, and because the underway measurements take time, the apparent spatial patterns are affected by temporal variation. A method is described that estimated and corrected this temporal distortion using a hydrodynamic model. It appeared that ebb and flood streams did not fully overlap, and that the tidal streams were more complicated, turbulent, and variable than existing models suggest. The data were analyzed for characteristics pertinent to practical tidal stream energy exploitation, and two favorable sites in the Inner Sound are identified. All original current data are available from the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Government has set stringent targets for renewable energy generation, prompting a substantial increase in proposals for wind farms, notably in the Scottish uplands which have a particularly high wind resource. These upland areas also support many bird species of conservation concern, leading to potential conflict. To help minimise this conflict, a map has been created indicating areas in Scotland where especially careful planning of wind farms will be necessary to avoid adverse impacts on vulnerable bird species. This map is based on the locations of statutorily protected Special Protection Areas, plus eighteen bird species of conservation priority. It is used here to assess the proportion of current and proposed wind farms on peatland, whether these coincide with mapped sensitive areas for birds, and which species are most likely to be affected. A high proportion of wind farms are on peatland (by stage in planning process: scoping 40%, application 38 %, approved 23%, installed 55%), although the area of peatland is only ca. 12% that of Scotland. Peatland also contains a high proportion of sensitive areas for birds. Of the 1 km squares from the sensitivity map whose centres fall within peatland, 52% are high sensitivity, 32% medium sensitivity and 17% low/unknown sensitivity. This compares with figures of 37%, 31% and 32% respectively for Scotland overall. Species on the map that are associated with peatland are red-throated diver, black-throated diver, common scoter, hen harrier and arctic skua. Of these, hen harrier is the species most likely to coincide with current and future wind farm developments, and cumulative effects of peatland wind farms on this species require assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of golden plover across Scotland was modelled using land cover and management variables, and used to highlight the spatial association between golden plover abundance and current and proposed wind farm developments. Overlap was greatest in three biogeographical zones (the Western Isles, the Western Central Belt and the Borders Hills) and was estimated at ca. 5% of the biogeographical population in each case. New field data were used to predict the effects of wind farm development on golden plover populations, employing a conservative analytical approach to detect statistically significant wind farm related effects. The results provide evidence of significant avoidance of wind turbines by breeding golden plovers to a distance of at least 200 metres. Furthermore, wind farm sites appear to support lower densities of golden plover than predicted by the distribution model for sites without wind farms. Therefore, there is evidence for negative effects of wind farm developments on golden plover, and we suggest strategies to reduce any potential conflict between the need to promote wind energy and the need to maintain golden plover populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]