The UK government has announced a consultation on whether to give subsidies to onshore wind development in the Western and Northern Isles.
The Conservatives at Westminster had pledged to end the support.
The UK government has also announced support packages for offshore wind and marine energy projects.
Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil and Scottish Renewables have criticised the government for not allowing developers of islands wind farms to bid for funds.
Scotland's Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, Paul Wheelhouse, said he was "extremely disappointed" and "angered" by the UK government's handling of a "vitally important issue".
The UK government said the consultation showed that it had listened to representations from Scotland and the renewable energy industry on the matter of subsidies.
The consultation forms part of the UK government's wider announcement "to reaffirm" an earlier commitment to spend £730m of annual support to renewable electricity projects over the current term of this parliament.
In the announcement, it has also set out further details for a new round of support packages from a scheme called Contracts for Difference (CfD).
The UK government said this would see companies compete for the first £290m-worth of contracts for less advanced technologies, such as offshore wind and marine renewables.
'Benefit significantly'
The consultation on subsidies for onshore wind projects, which runs until the end of January, asks three questions.
They are:
Should non-mainland onshore wind be considered a separate technology from onshore wind more generally?
Are there specific barriers/costs/issues associated with these onshore wind projects?
If there are specific challenges, are other measures outside of the CFD scheme that could be adopted by the government, or others, to remedy those challenges, and what would these measures be?
UK Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: "The renewables industry is a strong success story for Scotland thanks to UK government support, and this latest auction will enable many more companies to access funding.
"Last year alone a record £13bn was invested across the UK with Scotland continuing to benefit significantly.
"For onshore wind projects on remote islands, I have listened to partners and parliamentarians in Scotland and that's why I am launching a consultation to determine what support this technology should be eligible for."
'Bitterly disappointed'
But Mr MacNeil described the omission of developers of onshore wind on islands as "an epic kick in the teeth".
He said: "The only glimmer of hope is that Greg Clark promised me this morning that he will visit the Outer Hebrides and will launch an inquiry into the feasibility of remote island wind.
"I hope this will not just be a calming exercise to dissipate people's righteous indignation at this decision by the UK Tory government, on what is a perfect day for burying bad news," added Mr MacNeil, referring to the result of the US election.
Scottish Renewables, an organisation representing the development of the renewable energy sector in Scotland, has also criticised the UK government's announcement.
Chief executive Niall Stuart said: "We've waited a long time for this announcement, which signals further significant investment in the UK's offshore wind sector.
"However, developers and communities on the Scottish remote islands will be bitterly disappointed that government has put off a decision on allowing projects on Scotland's islands to compete for long-term contracts for renewable energy.
"After years of work on this issue, and many ministerial pledges to resolve it, we still seem no further forward to unlocking investment on Scotland's islands - home to some of the best wind, wave and tidal resources in Europe."
Energy minister Mr Wheelhouse said: "The Scottish government and the island councils asked the UK government for a meeting of the Scottish Island Renewable Delivery Forum on numerous occasions in the last year but received no response.
"At no time was it suggested there would be a further consultation. We now call upon the secretary of state to reconvene the forum and have the courtesy to explain this decision to those affected in person."
He said the Scottish government has also made Mr Clark aware of the "tight timeline" for the actions needed to allow island wind projects and the transmission links to be built.
