IN a BBC Breakfast interview on Monday (November 1) Nicola Sturgeon, in
response to a question on electrical generation in Scotland, replied:
“Ninety-seven per cent of all electricity we consume in Scotland comes from
renewables sources”. This is wrong.
On the inside cover of a four-page advertising supplement presented with
The Herald on Monday Ms Sturgeon states: “Nearly 100% of our net
electricity demand comes from renewable sources,” which statement, whilst
seeming to deploy careful connotative semantics, is also wrong. Inside the
paper, Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland, mentions “almost 100% of our
electricity needs now coming from renewables”, which is also wrong
(“Sturgeon outlines Scotland’s crisis role”, The Herald, November 1).
In a recent article in The Herald (September 17), Lindsay McQuade, chief
executive of Scottish Power Renewables, was quoted as pointing out that
“the equivalent of 97% of Scotland’s gross electricity consumption is now
from renewable sources”. In the same edition Pete Wishart, chair of the
Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster, is quoted as saying “in 2019
over 97% of electricity consumed in Scotland was from renewable energy
sources”.
Whilst the former pronouncement seems to also deploy careful connotative
semantics apparently implying but not actually stating 97% of Scotland’s
electricity consumption was from renewables, the second is wrong. All of
these soundbites, if unchallenged, could mislead.
The Scottish Government’s own Renewables Electricity Energy Stats for
Scotland “Electricity Consumption by Fuel” tabulation, however, lists the
official figures for the past year which show that 97% of Scotland’s
electricity consumption actually comprised wind 44.4%, nuclear 30%, fossil
fuel 12% and hydro 10.7%.
These statistics clearly identify the grid security and back-up role
performed by Hunterston and Torness (nuclear power plants) and Peterhead
(gas power) in supporting 42% of Scottish electricity consumption and
bridging frequent wind collapse whilst providing vital voltage and
frequency stabilising sources of synchronous generation which also acts as
the output control reference for our renewables grid connected electronics,
essential to their functionality.
DB Watson, Cumbernauld.
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