Energy questions

There is around 14,000 MW of generation plant on the Scottish grid to meet an average demand of 2,000 MW. The current 3,5000 MW overhead interconnector operates at 100 per cent capacity but, even with the commissioning of the 2,500 MW subsea link to Northwales,thatmeans6,000 MW of generation plant will sit idle for 25 years on the wild lands of Scotland.

The question that Iain Gray, MSP, has not addressed is why the planning authority did not insist that the output from the Red Rock plant, off the Angus coast, was taken to Blyth to join in with the Norwayuk subsea link, thus bypassing the interconnector bottleneck at the Border.

The current plan means that the Red Rock plant will never generate a single unit for the Scottish economy, whereas a connection at Blyth would have resulted in the economy receiving cash from English consumers for the energy produced.

If the plan for the East Lothian site is to ensure that gas at 4p per unit is phased out and replaced with renewable electricity at 16p per unit have MSPS reviewed the cost implications on the budgets of the 35 per cent of Scots living in fuel poverty? After all, MSPS should remember who broke a pledge to eliminate fuel poverty by 2016.

Perhaps Iain Gray could also ask two questions of the energy minister. The first is why Holyrood is planning 3,000 wind farms with an additional 11,000 MW output when there is no demand from Scottish consumers and the second is how do investors in the £30 billion capital projects receive any return if the plant never generates any output over its 25 year lifespan ?

IAN MOIR Queen Street, Castle Douglas