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ScotWind was an auction process run by Crown Estate Scotland, a Scottish government body tasked with managing land owned by the British monarch, through which businesses could apply for sea bed licences. These sections of the sea bed were not sold off, but leased to developers for up to ten years at a time with the aim of them eventually building wind farms.
More than 70 applications were lodged and 20 were eventually approved to move forward in 2022.
None of the ScotWind projects has been given full consent yet with an expectation many will be built in the early 2030s. Each project also had to pay option fees of up to £100,000 for every square kilometre required. In total the option fees were worth £756 million to the public purse. The government had indicated it would use the funds to invest in renewable energy.
Shona Robison, the finance secretary, is proposing to use £460 million of that ScotWind money to plug gaps in the Scottish budget. She argues that without taking the money even wider cuts would be required across the public sector. Critics suggest the SNP is blowing the opportunity to invest the money into renewable energy or to create an investment fund that could prioritise renewables.
Yes, there was £96 million that went in the 2022-23 budget, meaning the total left was £660 million. There had initially been plans to use £460 million in 2023-24 but spending changes meant none of that was actually drawn down. The initial budget for 2024-25 had pencilled in the use of £200 million of ScotWind fees.
If the full £460 million is used in 2024-25 it will leave about £200 million from the original ScotWind fees that can still be used however Holyrood ministers choose. The spending pressures on the Scottish government are unlikely to reduce in areas such as public sector pay, health and social security going into the next financial year. Once the ScotWind money is spent it will be gone and cannot be replaced.