Scottish councils to determine planning applications for hydro electric schemes up to 50MW
New planning applications for hydro electric schemes up to 50 Megawatts (MW) in Scotland are to be determined by councils rather than Ministers from June 2011.
Currently, hydro schemes over 1MW are decided by Ministers and the changes will bring hydro into line with the thresholds for determining wind farms.
Energy Minister Jim Mather said: "At the moment planning authorities already consider hydro applications, sometimes at committee, before responding to Ministers."
"Rather than making a recommendation, councils will now apply local knowledge to make local decisions on hydro applications up to 50MW, cutting out another layer of bureaucracy."
Further information:
Scottish Government
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