Renewed details

In Chris Mccall’s Future Scotland article of 25 August the Scottish Energy Minister quotes “renewable energy boosted the economy”. However, what he failed to state was that his claim was dependent on English and Welsh consumers paying 92 per cent of the £3.75 billion subsidy paid to the renewable sector in Scotland every year. Note that an independent Holyrood cannot receive payment for renewable subsidies from foreign consumers under European rules, hence Scottish consumers would be faced with a green levy bill of £1,400 per year. That would bring penury to the 40 per cent of Scots living in fuel poverty.

In addition, the comments he made on Constraint Payments failed to point out that, with the additional generation plant that Holyrood has endorsed, Scotland will have 14,000MW to meet a maximum demand of only 5,000MW.

That means that 9,000MW of generation, built at a cost of around £5 million per MW, will have to be constrained every day as the plant is surplus to Scottish demand. Note that such a cost is higher than that projected for Hinkley Point C.

The GMB are correct in claiming these subsidies should be paid by the taxpayer as the rich with their solar panels, biomass units and wind turbines receive far more from the green levy fund than their meagre contributions. Transfer the cost to the taxpayers and reduce the wealth inequality felt by the 40 per cent in fuel poverty – a poverty MSPS pledged to eliminate by 2016.

IAN MOIR

Queen Street, Castle Douglas