Nuclear plea
Lorna Slater’s article “Where’s the climate urgency?” (Scotsman, 17 April) makes interesting reading. It refers to a green recovery and says Scotland must not be left behind. With regard to energy and making the transition to electrification, Scotland has been left behind. This is mainly due to the policy of both the SNP and Green Party opposing nuclear power plants being built in Scotland.
There is no mention of nuclear power in either the SNP or Green Party literature but the majority of engineers find it hard to envisage a future where we can decarbonise the electricity power grid in an affordable way without increasing our nuclear generating capacity by a significant amount. Scottish politicians should be advised that nuclear energy is the key component of achieving a “green recovery”.
The British electricity grid is a single engineering entity and it is essential that synchronous generation support from nuclear plants is provided to ensure grid stability. Increasing renewable capacity on its own will not provide a stable grid system without gas and nuclear generating capacity in the system.
I would suggest that anyone who is concerned about the climate emergency should not cast their vote for parties who are not supporting nuclear energy. Without a significant increase in nuclear capacity it isvery unlikely that the target for net zero carbon emissions will be met by 2050.
C Scott
Mortonhall Road, Edinburgh
Seabirds at risk
How tragic it is to read that our blundering politicians in their efforts to “save the planet’ will actually be contributing to an accelerating environmental disaster.
How can the 290 jobs being created to build wind turbine generator foundation jackets at the BiFab yard in Methil (Scotsman, 16 April) be desicribed as “green jobs”? It is patently ridiculous.
Specifically, as the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm – the destination for the foundation jackets – should never have been approved in the first place.
The RSPB was so incensed by the Firth of Forth offshore wind farms during the planning process, it described them as “the most damaging wind farms for seabirds anywhere in the world” and the Firth of Forth as “of international importance to wildlife”.
They were so appalled by the Scottish Government’s cavalier attitude to birdlife that they took them all the way to the Supreme Court!
The RSPB also objected to the Moray West offshore wind farm, describing the environmental assessment submitted by the project as “incomplete and inadequate”. They added that the initiative could “spell disaster for some of our most valued seabird populations”.
Indeed, they described the proliferation of offshore wind farms in the North Sea as “the final nail in the coffin for seabirds”.
Wiping out wildlife is a tragically abhorrent way to “save the planet”.
George Herraghty
Lhanbryde, Elgin, Moray
Blown off course
It is disappointing to see The Scotsman resurrecting Alex Salmond’s absurd “Saudi Arabia of wind” claim (17 April).
Saudi Arabia makes money selling oil to other countries. UK consumers pay money in subsidies to mostly foreign-owned energy companies.
Oil and gas are internationally traded commodities which are readily transported in large quantities over long distances. The capacity of a single large tanker whichcan travel anywhere in the world is equivalent to about 1,200GW. The UK’s electricity infrastructure struggles to export 3GW from Scotland to England.
Jack W Ponton
Emeritus professor of engineering, Legerwood, Earlston, Berwickshire
0 Comments