JEREMY Peat gave an excellent review of steps for long-term strategy to
enhance the Scottish economy (“Why we need a longer term strategy for the
economy”, Herald Business, February 5).
However, lack of space surely meant he could not include a review of the
energy policies that underpin any plan for improving economic growth.
Could The Herald publish a further article to outline the following topics?
The review of Scots exports by Ian McConnell (“Scots exports rise in spite
of uncertainty”, Herald Business, January 25) quoted Economy Secretary
Keith Brown as stating that the closure of Longannet Power Station had an
impact on the £4.4 billion drop in exports to rUK. Did Holyrood fail to
note such an outcome before refusing to modify the plant to operate on US
shale gas which Scottish Power could have bought from the stocks at
Grangemouth?
The Holyrood proposal to phase out the use of gas in Scotland over the next
decade and replace the energy source with electricity from renewables means
that energy at 4p per unit will be now be an energy supply at 15p per unit.
Has SNP Growth Commission chairman Andrew Wilson analysed the effect this
will have on the budgets of the 35 per cent of Scots living in fuel poverty
and can Scottish business absorb such costs if rUK competitors continue to
receive their energy supply from gas?
There has never been a response from Holyrood as to whether the proposed
ban on gas extends to the import of US shale gas. Has such an assessment
been included in the Growth Report or have MSPs agreed that imports to
Grangemouth will not be caught up in such a ban?
Finally, as Scots use six times more energy from gas than electricity, the
ban on gas would require an additional 90,000 MW of wind turbines in
Scotland. At £5 million per installed MW can Scottish taxpayers afford the
£450 billion cost?
Ian Moir,
79 Queen Street, Castle Douglas.
IT was recently suggested that Longannet could be supplied with fracked gas
and run as a gas turbine generator station I understood that there was a
major natural gas supply to the site from the mid-1990s which may still
exist. Perhaps ScottishPower could advise on this.
I understand it had enough capacity to run two gas turbines of about 800MW
each. Hunterston and Torness, scheduled to be closed by 2023 and 2030
respectively, are rated at approx 1000MW and 1200 MW each.
Limited use was made of the gas from the mid 1990s for injection into the
main boilers to part-convert what would have been the nitrogen oxides (NOx)
atmospheric discharges into nitrogen and water vapour by a system known as
“gas re-burn” or “boosted over fire air” (Bofa) abatement. Emissions
reduction in NOx of around 40 per cent were, I believe, achieved.
There were no subsidies for new gas generation then nor now so our major
generating companies appear to be waiting with the begging bowls behind
their backs to sort out the increasing stability problems their subsidised
rush for wind based renewables is causing as identified recently by
National Grid (NG) and as finally now admitted by the Scottish Government
on page 54 of its Christmas report, The Future of Energy in Scotland, where
it calls for new gas generation “in each region of the country”.
Meanwhile, NG’s estimate of recovery time after an extensive blackout is
understood within the profession to be around five days and rising
significantly and it considers the two areas which will have the greatest
difficulty restarting are Scotland and the London area.
Our major generating companies will all be aware of this. They risk being
accused of playing poker with the UK’s lifeblood.
DB Watson,
Saviskaill, Langdales Avenue, Cumbernauld.
BERNARD Zonfrillo (Letters, February 2) certainly did not hold back on his
dislike for the petrochemical industry. He does however look forward to the
age of electric cars. I wonder what he thinks these cars are made from?
Modern cars have panels made from plastics. Their paint is a product of the
petrochemical industry. Dashboard, carpets, seats are all made from
man-made (that is, chemical sources). Even the tyres are mostly synthetic
rubber. With sophisticated electrics and electronics the wiring loom is
complex and consists of probably a couple of miles of cables and connectors
all insulated with plastic.
So like it or not the chemical side of the petoochemical industry will
always be with us until we figure out how to mass produce from biochemical
sources.
Jim McDonald,
53 Doublehedges Road, Neilston.
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