Heated debate
The SNP Energy Plan indicates a capacity of 85GW of generation plant on the Scottish grid by 2035. However, Jim Stamper (Letters, 15 January) did not note that, in summer, demand will drop to less than 10GW, so around 75GW of capacity will sit idle, accruing Constraint Payments of about £75 per MWhour for 2,000 hours.
The £9 billion levy must be paid by Scottish consumers, thus increasing annual energy bills by about £3,000 per household as English demand will fall in line with that in Scotland, resulting in those facing fuel poverty cascading into fuel penury. It is surely time for an “energetic debate” at Holyrood!
Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway
In praise of sceptics
I should like to point out to Barry Hughes that scepticism is the lifeblood of science. Current global warming is a measurable entity and thus universally accepted by scientists. That it is to any great extent caused by burning fossil fuels is not measurable and is still very much open to scepticism.
Unfortunately the debate is now more political than scientific – and politicians, some of whom have made millions from it, of course control the purse strings. Let’s remember that Galileo was forced to recant his theories by the “flat earth” Church and State; those few of his fellow travellers who were brave enough and did not were burnt at the stake.
A McCormick, Terregles, Dumfries and Galloway
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