Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has told Parliament that proposed electricity market reforms must maintain the Scottish Government’s existing ability to apply a Scottish approach to supporting renewable energy.

Opening and closing a debate on the UK Government's draft Energy Bill which saw MSPs unanimously back a motion calling on the UK and Scottish Governments to work together on the reforms, Mr Ewing said the Energy Bill had great potential.

But he warned that continuing uncertainty on the reforms was damaging investor confidence. He also argued that the reforms must not be used as a smokescreen to introduce nuclear subsidies at the expense of renewable energy, and called on the UK Government to work with the Scottish Government.

Mr Ewing told Parliament that the Scottish Government’s discretion over the Renewables Obligation has allowed investment, development and deployment in the sector to boom in Scotland – and argued that this discretion must be maintained under the new system.

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The draft Bill outlines plans to revise the way low-carbon electricity is supported to incentivise low carbon generation and give low carbon generators long term certainty about the price they will receive for their electricity.

It gives Scottish Ministers a statutory consultation role in the development of new arrangements for supporting low-carbon generation and over the setting of the strategic direction of Ofgem, the UK Energy Regulator. But more work will need to be done to agree and embed effective and enduring joint working between the Scottish and UK Governments.

Mr Ewing said: "The Scottish Energy sector is essential to Scotland’s present and future social, environmental, industrial and economic wellbeing and growth.

"The reforms the UK Government is planning will be fundamental to the energy sector both in Scotland and the rest of the UK. We must get them right – we cannot afford not to – and we must work together to achieve this.

"Over the past few years we have seen real and tangible investment confidence in the energy sector in Scotland – and our ambitious renewable energy and climate change targets are playing a key part in creating and sustaining that confidence.

"The Scottish Parliament has exercised devolved power over the Renewable Obligation judiciously, effectively and successfully to create a strong and effective framework of support.

"We have targeted that support to reflect Scottish priorities such as our enormous wave and tidal energy potential. Properly designed, we believe the new proposals could allow similar discretion – but they must be at least as effective as the current support framework, and we must maintain our discretion to set the right support levels and to target that support where it is needed."

(CD)