Eighty four per cent of Scottish adults would be happy or unconcerned about living close to a solar farm, according to an exclusive new opinion poll published today.The poll results suggest widespread public acceptance for a technology that could make an important contribution towards meeting ambitious Scottish government targets for generating electricity from renewable sources.
Commissioned by Scottish communications consultancy, Orbit Communications, the new poll comes as the solar industry faces huge uncertainty following recently announced plans by the UK government to slash incentives for the development of large scale solar farms.
The announcement is particularly bad timing for Scotland since solar developers have only very recently begun to take an interest in the potential for large-scale solar development north of the border. As technology improves and suitable sites further south become more and more difficult to find, an increasing number of solar companies were beginning to see potential for future industry growth in Scotland.
The poll found that 34% of Scots would be happy to live near a solar farm with 50% having no strong opinion and only ten per cent would be unhappy doing so.
The poll results follow the recent publication of an action plan for development of the solar industry in Scotland, prepared on behalf of the Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research and the Scottish Solar Energy Group. The document highlights the huge potential for expansion of solar energy generation capacity in Scotland and calls for key stakeholders to work together to develop a vision for the industry’s future.
Orbit Communications director, Alex Bruce, said:
“This new poll demonstrates a very broad base of public acceptance for the development of solar farms in Scotland with 84% of Scots supporting or having no strong feelings about living near a solar farm.“Through the recent publication of an action plan, industry experts have already demonstrated the huge potential for future development of the solar industry in Scotland and the major contribution this could make towards cutting carbon emissions and energy costs and meeting the very ambitious renewables targets previously set by the Scottish government.“Large scale development offers the greatest potential to make a significant contribution to meeting these goals. If a change in government policy stifles a popular technology before it’s really had a chance to get off the ground, that would be a huge opportunity lost.”