The location of existing and planned sources of energy, both electricity and heat, is provided as part of the Scotland Heat Map. Alongside data on heat demand, this is used to identify opportunities to reduce carbon emissions from heat in buildings, either by connecting supply and demand in a more efficient manner or by using lower carbon alternatives to existing supply. Data on each energy supply point includes, where available, capacity size category, main technology used (e.g., ‘wind’, ‘biomass’) and planning status (e.g., ‘operational’, ‘in development’). This dataset is included in the Scotland Heat Map for the first time in 2023. It replaces the data on existing and planned energy supply in earlier versions of the heat map.

The Scotland Heat Map is produced by the Scottish Government. Data on existing and planned energy supply comes three sources. Two are UK Government sources: the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) and the Major Power Producers (MPP) dataset. The third is the Energy Saving Trust’s (EST’s) Renewable Heat Database (RHD). Records from the MPP dataset have only been included where they have a fuel type of fossil fuel or nuclear, or where they have a renewable fuel type but their installed capacity is less than 1 MW. This is to avoid overlap with the REPD as much as possible. Records from the RHD have only been included where they output heat only, their installed capacity is 1 MW or higher and they can be shared. The 2020 quarter 4 extract of REPD has been used. MPP data was provided by the UK Government in late 2020. The RHD provides installation information as at end December 2021.

More information can be found in the documentation available on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotland-heat-map-documents/.