The target is achievable but only if fast action is taken to improve infrastructure and financing

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Ambitious plans to meet 100% of Scotland's electricity needs from renewables by 2020 could fail unless fast action is taken to improve infrastructure, financing and the planning regime, MSPs have warned.

The Scottish parliament's economy, energy and tourism committee said that the "challenging" target to generate the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's electricity from green sources was achievable, but only if a series of obstacles were overcome.

Its inquiry, which featured a combative evidence session about the US billionaire Donald Trump's damage caused by wind power from the US billionaire Donald Trump this year, urged the Scottish government, banks and UK energy regulators to quickly speed up reform and spending.

One significant obstacle was the heavy cost of exporting to the grid renewable energy from wind, wave and tidal energy. This obstacle had to be removed, the cross-party committee said.

That charging regime, which adds significant extra costs because of the added distance to the biggest energy users in the south of England, penalised those areas with the greatest renewables potential.

Murdo Fraser, the Tory MSP who chairs the committee, said: "Our recommendations are crucial to the success of the renewables industry in Scotland, and focus on issues such as access to finance, the planning system, infrastructure development and investment in skills.

"Given the influence of the UK government in energy policy, there are a number of recommendations that will require concerted effort by the two administrations if significant progress is to be made."

The report was prepared before the UK government released details of its energy bill.

The bill's key proposal is to allow power companies to add £7.6bn to consumers' bills to pay for accelerated renewables investment. UK ministers claim that will lead to £110bn of extra investment by banks, utilities and engineering companies.

The coalition's decision to delay setting a firm target for cutting CO2 emissions by 2030 will delight Alex Salmond, the Scottish first minister, who is now confident Scotland will manage to hit its more ambitious target of cutting emissions by 42% by 2020.

Many renewables investors believe Salmond's vigorous championing of renewables has created a more positive business environment in Scotland, compared with the divisions and delays over increasing renewables subsidies at UK level.

However, about 70% of that emissions cut will be met because of EU and UK government energy and climate policies, and the EU emissions trading schemes, not through Scottish policies.

On Thursday, Ed Miliband said a Labour government would entirely "decarbonise" the UK's electricity supply by 2030 and also insisted Scotland's very costly renewables target could only be met with UK government subsidies; an independent Scotland could not afford it, he said.

The cross-party Scottish parliament committee added that "swift and decisive" action was needed by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc), investors and the Scottish government in order to hit a renewable heating target of meeting 11% of Scotland's domestic heating from renewables by 2020.

Despite giving Trump a headline-grabbing platform earlier this year to denounce windpower – he claimed these "horrible, horrible structures" would mean "financial suicide" for the tourism industry – the committee said there was no robust, empirical evidence to back up his claims it was damaging tourism.

At one point in his evidence, where he attempted to bolster his attacks on an offshore windfarm near his stalled £750m golfing resort, Trump claimed he was the proof that this was true. "I am considered a world-class expert in tourism, so when you say, 'where is the expert and where is the evidence', I'm the evidence," he said.