Wind and water
May I add to the article by John McLaren by pointing out that the reason Norway can export almost all its oil and gas, thus topping the KMPG Net Zero readiness Index, is because Norwegian Hydro Plant can supply the majority of the country’s energy demand. Indeed, Norway has so much hydropower that there has been a 1,400 MW sub-sea cable laid from their Kvilldal power station to the north of England.
Scotland can never match such a performance as wind energy is so unreliable and even the new Seagreen plant only operates at a load factor of around 40 per cent. The result is that, over a year, Seagreen operates at full load for the equivalent of three days a week, then sits idle for the remaining four days, which leads to the question: “what keeps the lights on in Scotland when the wind fails to blow?”
The current option adopted by Holyrood is to replace Hunterston B with a 900MW gas-fired power station at Peterhead, but that escalates energy costs as Scotland is thus operating a two-tier system by running wind farms with gas-fired back-up and, as it is the cost of gas that has led to the current cost of-living crisis, the burden on household budgets will increase instead of falling, as additional wind farms are brought onto the system. It’s surely time for a debate on current energy costs and policy in Scotland.
Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway
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