Scottish wind consent target: 46 applications await decisions

The Scottish wind consent target is under fresh scrutiny after the Scottish Government disclosed that none of 46 onshore wind applications covered by its 12-month determination ambition had been decided by the end of June 2026.

The Scottish wind consent target figure appears in the Energy Consents Unit Annual Report 2025/26, published on 6th October 2026. The report also shows that Section 36 cases which were not referred to the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals took an average of 567 days overall, while referred cases averaged 1,427 days.

The Scottish wind consent target has an important qualification. The 12-month period is a government and industry ambition from the Onshore Wind Sector Deal, not a statutory deadline, and the 46 applications were received between January 2025 and June 2026. Some of the later applications had therefore not been in the system for 12 months when the snapshot was taken.

Scottish wind consent target is an ambition, not a statutory deadline

The Scottish wind consent target comes from the Onshore Wind Sector Deal for Scotland, agreed between the Scottish Government and industry in September 2023.

From 2025, the deal says the Government will aim to determine Section 36 applications for new onshore wind sites and repowering projects within 12 months where there is no Public Local Inquiry. The stated aim is 24 months where a Public Local Inquiry is required.

That wording matters. It is a performance ambition, rather than a rule under which an application automatically succeeds, fails or becomes unlawful after 12 months. Applicants should therefore not treat the target as a substitute for checking the actual procedural position of an individual consent application.

None of the 46 target applications has been determined yet

The Energy Consents Unit, or ECU, gives its clearest progress update so far on that commitment. It says that between January 2025 and June 2026 it received 46 onshore wind applications to which the 12-month target applies.

The report states: None of these applications have been determined yet.

That is a striking number, but it needs to be read with the dates. An application received in the first half of 2025 may already have crossed the 12-month point by June 2026. An application received in June 2026 plainly had not. The report does not break the 46 applications down by submission date or say how many were already beyond the target.

The stronger conclusion is therefore that the first published cohort remains wholly undetermined at the reporting snapshot, rather than that all 46 have missed a legal or policy deadline.

Section 36 cases still take well over a year on average

The wider performance data helps explain why the Scottish wind consent target is difficult to meet.

Scottish Ministers determined 61 Section 36 applications between 1st April 2025 and 31st March 2026. Of those, 57 were consented and four were refused. All four refusals were wind farm proposals.

For Section 36 applications not referred to the DPEA, the average overall application time was 567 days, equivalent to about 18 and a half months. The six cases referred to the DPEA averaged 1,427 days, or almost four years.

Those averages cover the applications determined during the reporting year. They should not be treated as a direct measure of the separate 46-application target cohort, but they show the scale of the timetable challenge.

The report itself acknowledges that determination times remain a key focus. Catherine Cacace, Head of Energy Consents, says the Unit remains committed to improving timeliness while recognising the complexity of projects, consultation issues and the evidence Ministers need before reaching decisions.

Consultation takes longer than the formal determination stage

The most useful practitioner detail is the breakdown of where time is being spent.

For cases referred to the DPEA, consultation averaged 411 days, compared with 340 days in the formal determination stage. For cases not referred, consultation averaged 316 days, compared with 212 days in determination.

The Scottish Government says planning authority extensions averaged 161 days, while statutory consultee extensions averaged 119 days. Where developers were asked to provide additional information, the average time taken to supply it was 181 days.

For applicants, that points to a practical lesson which is broader than headline ministerial performance. Early scoping, complete environmental information and early engagement with planning authorities and statutory consultees can materially affect the overall programme, even though they cannot remove every source of delay.

The report says incomplete applications requiring additional information can extend determination periods significantly. That gives developers a clear reason to treat application quality and pre-application work as programme-critical, rather than simply front-end paperwork.

Battery storage is now a major part of the Energy Consents Unit workload

The ECU received 139 applications during 2025/26. These included 35 wind farm applications, 26 battery energy storage applications, six hybrid schemes, two solar schemes and one hydro application under Section 36, together with 68 overhead-line applications under Section 37 and one gas pipeline application.

Battery energy storage systems were the largest technology category among Section 36 cases determined during the year, with 32 consents and seven withdrawals. Wind farms accounted for 18 consents, four refusals and one withdrawal.

The workload therefore cannot be understood as a wind-only issue. Grid reinforcement, storage and other generation technologies are competing for specialist consenting resources at the same time as the Government is trying to accelerate renewable deployment.

The report records £12.283 million in application fee income during the year, with £5.8 million voluntarily passed to planning authorities for consultation work. The ECU now has more than 70 staff following a major recruitment drive.

Scottish energy consenting reform is coming next

The annual report also previews a further round of reform to the electricity consenting system under the Electricity Act 1989.

The Scottish Government says policy work, drawing on powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, is examining stronger pre-application engagement, clearer application requirements, a formal acceptance stage and improved consultation arrangements. It is also considering how resourcing and funding can support timely participation by planning authorities and other consultees.

A public consultation is expected during 2026. The stated aim is a more disciplined and predictable process which reduces avoidable delay without cutting communities or consultees out of decision-making.

That direction overlaps with wider arguments about Scottish planning capacity. Planning Geek has previously reported on CBI proposals for planning reform in Scotland and the developing role of Scotland’s Major Projects Office. Those are separate initiatives, but each is concerned with the time, coordination and resources needed to move major development through the system.

The ECU report also confirms that planning and consenting functions are being brought together within a new Planning Directorate during 2026. The Government says this should allow expertise to be shared across teams and improve the quality and timeliness of advice to Ministers.

What the Scottish wind consent target means for applicants

For a developer, the most important point is not to mistake the 12-month ambition for a guaranteed decision date.

A Section 36 application can still be affected by environmental information requests, objections, consultation extensions and referral to the DPEA. Where a public inquiry is required, the sector deal itself uses a 24-month ambition rather than 12 months.

The annual report makes clear that consultation is currently one of the biggest components of overall case duration. That means project programmes need realistic allowances for local authority and statutory consultee input, especially where peat, ecology, landscape, aviation, grid or other technically complex issues are likely to arise.

Applicants should also distinguish between consenting and delivery. A ministerial consent does not solve grid connection, finance, land, procurement or construction constraints, just as delay in one of those areas does not necessarily explain an ECU determination timetable.

What happens next?

The next important test will be whether the first applications within the Scottish wind consent target cohort begin to be determined and whether published performance starts moving towards the sector deal ambition.

The promised consultation on Scottish Energy Consenting Reform could be more significant still. Formal changes to acceptance, consultation and resourcing may alter how major electricity projects enter and move through the system, rather than simply adding another performance target.

Planning Geek will also be watching the three major Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment applications from SSEN which are currently before Scottish Ministers and have all been referred to the DPEA for public inquiries. The Government expects ministerial determinations during the 2026/27 reporting year.

For now, the annual report gives a useful reality check. Scotland has expanded the Energy Consents Unit and set faster decision ambitions, but its own figures show that the consenting pipeline remains lengthy and consultation-heavy. The 46 undetermined wind applications are the clearest marker yet of the gap the reform programme still has to close.