The Scottish Government's draft Energy Strategy has been largely welcomed by energy industry leaders.

Speaking ahead of Scottish Renewable's annual conference in Edinburgh next week, Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) Neil Kermode said the strategy was "refreshingly clear".

"The draft Scottish Energy Strategy is excellent as it joins the dots together on renewables, transport and heat and shows a transition away from fossil fuels to a sustainable economy. It is clear, aspirational and therefore challenging to do," he said.

"But it also sets out the landscape in which the changes need to happen and signals the direction of travel that Government wants to see."

Jonny Clark, Managing Director of Edinburgh consultancy ITPEnergised, said it was vital that the Energy Strategy "both transcends relatively short-term political horizons and recognises we are part of a wider UK and European energy network".

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"Much of Scotland's significant progress towards a low-carbon economy has been made through electricity generation, stimulated by UK Government subsidies and our advantageous natural resources, in particular wind and hydro," he said.

"As we all know we have now entered a different era, so the new Scottish Energy Strategy needs to give a clear direction of travel and set out targets which address the carbon-intensity of our electricity generation and, in particular, our heating and transport systems, where possible aligning with the UK Government's wider industrial strategy to deliver win-wins."

Ramboll's UK Head of Energy, Crispin Matson, added that meeting the heat component of a 50% 'all-energy' 2030 target will be difficult, "particularly if this relies on the continuing uptake of biomass heating".

"Denmark, like Scotland, has a high degree of renewable electricity being generated by wind power," he said.

"Denmark however has an extensive network of district heating.  By combining large scale electric heat pumps with district heating networks they are using their surplus wind power to supply low-carbon renewable heat in a very cost-effective manner.

"This Danish solution could therefore be applied to Scotland. What it needed is the application of district heating networks combined with heat pumps to the key urban areas of Scotland.  Legislative and financial incentives should be introduced to achieve this required significant take up of district heating."

A session on 'Scotland's Energy Strategy: How Can it Deliver?' will take place at Scottish Renewables' Annual Conference in Edinburgh next week on Tuesday, 21 March and Wednesday, 22 March.

(LM/MH)