SAME SIZE ORDER AS LAST YEAR

Scotland's second round of bidding for power purchase contracts (SRO-2) will secure up to 70-80 MW from renewables. This could double the amount of new renewables capacity in Scotland after 76 MW of contracts were awarded under the country's first renewables obligation (SRO-1) last December. Details of SRO-2 emerged from the Scottish Office on the same day as the DTI announced NFFO-4.

Industry minister at the Scottish Office, George Kynoch, says a consultation exercise earlier this year showed broad support for the government's approach to developing renewable energy. Now under SRO-2 he intends oblige the two Scottish electricity utilities, ScottishPower and Hydro-Electric, to secure more of their output from renewable generators.

"The first Order led to 30 quality renewables projects with a total capacity of 76 MW" he says. "I hope that this proposed second order will again attract technically sound and innovative projects which will be even more competitive on price. If so, the second order is likely to be about the same size as the first. I see this as an opportunity for the renewables industry to show that it is responding to the challenges which it faces."

There will be four bands covering wind, hydro, waste-to-energy and biomass. All projects are to be capped at 15 MW. Contracts will run for 15-20 years with premium prices for 15 years. The order will begin in 1996.