Kenny MacAskill
THROUGHOUT Scotland’s history, its geography and climate have been seen
more as a curse than a blessing. Located on an island with a larger and
more powerful neighbour and distant from markets add to the expense of trade.
For Scottish businesses, it’s not so much the extra mile that needs to be
gone but hundreds, if not thousands, of additional ones, all at a cost.
Weather wise, wind and rain can seem incessant and summer’s now but a
distant dream. It is little wonder that, despite the collapse in the value
of the pound, many are still jetting off to sunnier climes.
However, there’s one area where our nation’s geography and climate are not
just to our advantage but are also a positive blessing, and that’s in
renewable energy. Being located where we are offers opportunities and our
weather affords natural advantages.
That should allow for a competitive advantage for our businesses and cost
reduction for our consumers. Those advantages could go some way to
offsetting the natural challenges faced.
Sadly, the opportunity isn’t being properly grasped by a UK government
fixated on nuclear energy, irrespective of cost or security and imposing
tariff barriers through grid connection charges that are not just
unfavourable but perverse.
The distance-from-market challenge to Scottish business is compounded by a
charging methodology in energy that penalises the natural bounty.
That was compounded by the failure last week to support the tidal energy
scheme in the Pentland Firth. Of course, it floats on and, it is to be
hoped, will still survive the buffeting but it’s not what it should be.
The passage is one of the great natural tidal areas in the world. Rather
than a challenge for navigators, it could be a natural provider of energy,
not just for Scotland but for the entire UK. Some estimates suggest that
eight per cent of UK energy alone could be provided. The technology is
complicated but it can be made to work as other forms of renewable energy,
whether wind or solar, have shown in going from prototype to production.
Meanwhile in Canada they proceed with their attempts to harness a similar
natural asset in the Bay of Fundy. There must be a huge risk that, as with
wind technology before it, which started in Scotland and was lost to
Denmark, we’ll be overlapped by somewhere else for a natural asset we
should be able to make our own.
This Tory Government is prepared to throw £20 billion at a new nuclear
power station at Hinkley Point that has been caustically assessed by the
National Audit Office, never mind the safety implications from Fukushima
and elsewhere.
It’s also privately fretted over by the security services, given China’s
involvement in its construction. This aspect seems particularly absurd
given alleged recent cyber-attacks, never mind the ongoing industrial, if
not military, espionage. In ancient civilizations, it was sometimes claimed
that decline began when the empire was unable properly to defend itself.
When it became dependent on mercenaries from outwith then collapse was not
long in coming; so it was said about Byzantium.
In modern terms, it is energy more than the military that matters. If you
don’t have secure energy supplies then there’s a huge risk.
It is unsurprising, therefore, that recent conflicts have often been in
oil-rich areas such as Iraq. That the Tories reject the bounty on the
northern shore and risk the nation’s security with a Trojan-horse power
station is utter folly.
Of course, much progress has been made, especially in wind energy where on
several days this year more than enough power has been produced than the
country’s entire needs.
It’s not just large-scale wind farms but smaller turbines for individuals
and communities that are adding to the mix. Even solar has a role.
Moreover, offshore sites offer even greater prospects in scale and greater
support must be provided. It’s not just jobs that are provided but also the
opportunity for cheap energy for business and citizen alike, reversing
centuries of disadvantage.
There are areas of Scotland where their siting would be inappropriate but
the Pavlovian-response hatred that some have is irrational and reminiscent
of a latter-day Sancho Panza.
Many, including Donald Trump, seem to want to preserve a view of Scotland
that they have, rather than seek to deliver a vision of what it can be.
Many of our glens weren’t meant to be devoid of either human life or
engineering. Renewables can allow areas to thrive while preserving natural
beauty.
As the world moves from fossil fuels to renewables, Scotland’s location and
climate are at last to our advantage.
Renewable energy is a golden opportunity for Scotland. With 25 per cent of
Europe’s potential tidal resource, it should be harnessed, not hindered.
The Tories are shamefully dissipating our natural asset for their nuclear
folly.
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