Don’t leave energy to politicians
THE news that the Scottish Government is obdurate in its resistance to taking a share of the UK’s plan to have by 2050, 24GW of nuclear energy contributing to the country’s energy needs, is unsurprising but seriously alarming. At present Scotland is importing 1.5GW from England. When a proportion of that energy has a nuclear source will Scotland stand on its principles and “switch off”?
The Scottish Government published its Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan earlier in the year and specifically stated that nuclear would have no place in the strategy. The Draft Energy Strategy contains almost 200 pages of reading and contains a lot of thoughtful and noble aspirations for the future but fails utterly as a professional strategy document since it does not acknowledge the absolute need for system planning, costs and risks, but relies instead on unsubstantiated beliefs.
We should all be very concerned that the future of one of the most complex systems that mankind has ever designed should be the responsibility of political whim and prejudice. Would you fly in a plane designed by SNP politicians? Almost certainly not. Then why do we believe that the system engineering of the electricity supply should be the responsibility of well-meaning but essentially ignorant politicians? This is not meant to be a criticism of our politicians’ intelligence, simply that they fail to accept that they are so poorly equipped for such a responsibility.
The challenges and risks associated with the transition from fossil fuel to “green” energy sources, albeit essential, is fraught with huge risks, costs, and unpredictable future events. For SNP Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan to say: “Nuclear, in current technologies, will never present value for money”, is not acceptable. She is not qualified to make this kind of assertion, which is probably made as a homage to popularism rather than knowledge.
Furthermore, she states: “We have to invest in our future energy mix on the basis of renewables and hydrogen.” Now there is no argument about that, except everyone has to understand that renewables, when integrated into the whole system, particularly onshore wind, is far more expensive than nuclear and an economy reliant on hydrogen will be painfully expensive.
We urgently need an independent, appropriately-skilled engineering and economic resource to manage our future energy strategy and guide our politicians in their formulation of legislation.
Norman McNab, Killearn.
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