Virtue signalling won’t keep the lights on in Scotland
“You published two letters (November 30) claiming that Scotland does not
need nuclear power since, it is claimed, it is self-sufficient in
renewables. A few facts illustrate the lack of depth to this argument.
“While reading the letters, 31 per cent of Scotland’s electricity was being
generated at Torness Nuclear Power Station with a further 19 per cent
generated by gas turbines. That is, half of Scotland’s electricity was
being generated by power stations which it is intended to shut down.
“To give some idea of the importance of nuclear and gas generation, Torness
can supply 1,190MW while gas-fuelled Peterhead Power Station can supply
1,180MW.
“In contrast, the Whitelees wind farm, the UK’s largest onshore wind farm,
has an installed capacity of 539MW but it is dependent upon wind
conditions. When I most recently visited it (on October 14), it was
displaying the figure of 3793MWh as the average daily output over the
preceding three months.
“Dividing this figure by the 24 hours in a day gives an average output of
158MW.
“This morning, rather than being generated in Scotland, three per cent of
Scotland’s electricity was imported. When Torness closes, rather than
Scotland being self-sufficient in energy, we can expect to see the
proportion of electricity imported across the border significantly
increasing.
“Virtue-signalling and political rhetoric will not keep the lights on.”
George Rennie
Inverness
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