Economic lunacy

IT was Alex Salmond who claimed Scotland could be ‘the Saudi Arabia of renewables’.

Today, the SNP’s enthusiasm for wind energy continues unabated. Last year, ministers published plans for a huge increase in turbines.

Their ‘onshore wind policy’ set out how the unsightly structures will double in number over the coming years – and said even more will be needed ‘in locations across our landscapes’.

Yet new figures show that in one day nearly £5million was spent on ‘constraint payments’ – handed out when wind farms stand idle and bankrolled by domestic bill payers.

The creaking National Grid cannot cope with the extra energy turbines produce, so firms receive the cash to shut them down temporarily – an extraordinary practice that amounts to economic lunacy.

In this context, the SNP’s decision to set a new target for half of Scotland’s energy needs to come from renewables by 2030 seems highly questionable – rooted more in ‘green zealotry’ than common sense.

For several years, the Nationalists have allowed the Greens – on whom they rely for a pro-independence majority at Holyrood – to dictate their approach, effectively putting environmental ideology ahead of the need for a balanced energy policy.

Meanwhile, the SNP remains implacably opposed to fracking for shale gas, depriving the country of an alternative energy source that could also spark a jobs boom.

Scots forced to fund the SNP’s green mania through their energy bills will find such intransigence hard to forgive.