Wind of change
Further to Claire Mack’s article (Perspective, 20 January), the saying goes: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.” Scotland has long been an exporter of oil and gas and seems about to become a net exporter of renewable energy as private developers fall over themselves to install, at knockdown prices, new wind farms off our coast.
Crown Estate Scotland (CES) announced the results through the ScotWind leasing round, with a potential 25 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. This is almost four times Scotland’s total needs, with each GW potentially worth £l billion to Scotland’s economy.
Is the lion’s share of our renewable energy profits destined for abroad? The 17 successful bids range across the globe. Scotland’s renewable energy will generate huge profit for multinationals and overseas governments. Last year England licensed only one third as much as CES for an annual payment of £800 million, meaning our wind power is worth just 7 per cent of that of England. Scottish firms will receive a very small share of the profits
There is a lesson on how to handle a natural resource to the benefit of its people. While Scotland lost out, Norway turned its limited resource into a huge sovereign wealth fund worth some £200,000 for every citizen.
Oil and gas workers face unemployment. Offshore wind farm leases must be linked to job creation. If Holyrood does not change tack, are we looking at a sequel entitled “The Cheviot, The Stag and the Big, Big Wind?”
DW Lowden, Mannofield, Aberdeen
Broad vision
On the topic of windfarms, Elizabeth Buchan-Hepburn and Mary Thomas whine like spoilt children who have to share their goodies with others (Letters, 22 January). No matter what the topic, if nationalists do not get everything their own way, the Union or the Westminster government is to blame. Never mind that Scotland benefits from the Union in so many other ways – the pound sterling is the first that comes to mind – nationalists must always have a grievance, always a complaint. This inward-looking, selfish, Anglophobic attitude is as depressing as the mindset of Little Englanders or Trump supporters and unlikely to persuade we Scots with a much broader vision of our country.
Martin Foreman, Edinburgh
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