Lack of debate about energy cost in independent Scotland will prove expensive

Lesley Riddoch complained of the lack of debate about energy costs in an independent Scotland in a Scotsman article of 29 May, 2017.

A year on and we still find letters such as the one from Gill Turner (Scotsman, 11 June) discussing growth probabilities without a single reference to Holyrood policies on energy.

Phasing out gas will result in a four-fold increase in energy bills when English consumers no longer provide a hidden 92 per cent contribution to renewable subsidies.

How can there be growth when around a third of the take-home pay of the average Scottish worker has to be paid to the foreign owners of the wind farms in Scotland?

Gill Turner joins our MSPS in failing to address the capital cost of equipment needed to replace gas as an energy source. A bill of around £450 billion would cripple the Scottish economy, yet not a single contributor in Politics Scotland ( BBC, 10 June ) made any reference to such costs.

Why are there no champions at Holyrood to speak for the 35 per cent of Scots living in fuel poverty ?

IAN MOIR Queen Street, Castle Douglas

Not a cheep, not a whisper. In fact, if you strain your ears, all you will hear at the moment, is a truly deafening silence from the wind industry.

Why, because wind power has virtually collapsed since the beginning of June.

Far from ‘powering’ thousands of ‘homes’ the entire wind array littering our hilltops, trashing our horizons and costing countless billions is providing practically zilch.

The wind drought has pushed up day-ahead power prices to the highest level for the time of year for at least a decade. Apart from a surge expected around June 14, wind levels are forecast to stay low for the next fortnight, according to the Met Office.

A bit of withering deflation for the newly published Growth Commission!

The collapse in output from what are known as ‘unreliables’ could be, in fact, desperately serious to modern society as we need vast amounts of constant power to keep our schools, infrastructure, factories and hospitals running.

So next time the wind industry boasts about its record output, ask them – Would you like to be on a life support machine ‘powered’ by wind?

Yours, also having to pay for 100 per cent back-up . . .

GEORGE HERRAGHTY Elgin, Moray