Nuclear may be key to reaching eco-goal

The Scottish government risks missing its renewables target because it has ruled out building power stations that generate energy in the most controversial way
John Penman

The Scottish government has set an ambitious target of generating 50% of Scotland’s power from renewable sources by 2020.
Scotland has an advantage over many other European countries, because we have 25% of the continent’s potential wind power and a long coastline which offers many opportunities for wave and tidal power.
Add in the already extensive hydro operations and Scotland is well ahead of the rest of the UK in generating power through non-carbon sources. But the SNP wants to achieve an interim figure of 31% by 2011.
For many people in the Scottish business world, the ability to achieve that is under question because the SNP-led government has opposed plans to build new nuclear power stations.
Nuclear does not add to the carbon footprint but is not favoured by environmentalists mainly because of the cost of building a new station and the problems disposing of radioactive material.
First minister Alex Salmond made it clear earlier this year that he sees future power generation in Scotland without the need for nuclear.
“We are not going to close nuclear power stations; they will come to the end of their lives and will be shut,” he said.
But one of Scotland’s main industry bodies, the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, wants to examine whether achieving the 50% is possible without nuclear power. It has commissioned international energy specialist Wood Mackenzie to investigate and report back by the end of September.
“Rising energy prices are impacting on every sector of the Scottish economy, and there is considerable cross-business concern about the implications of the Scottish government’s refusal to allow any new nuclear generation,” said SCDI chief executive Dr Lesley Sawers.
“With planned power station closures this could mean an energy gap, and Scotland going from a net exporter to an importer of electricity. This has potentially significant implications for security, affordability and reliability of our energy supply, and the continued growth of the economy.”
Iberdrola, the Spanish owner of Scottish Power, recently pulled out of the bidding for East KIlbride-based nuclear generator British Nuclear but has said it is interested in new nuclear build.
With the Scottish government threatening to block any planning application it is hard to see how they could build a new station in Scotland.
The renewables sector offers many opportunities for Scotland, not least because of the natural resources at our disposal, but many of the technologies in wave and tidal have yet to been proven on a commercial scale.
Scottish Power and Norwegian firm Statoil are trialling a tidal turbine that was first developed in Norway, and Ocean Power Delivery’s wave machine Pelamis continues trials off Orkney. However, in the short term wind will produce most of the renewable energy.
The SCDI study will examine whether that alone will be enough to meet the Government’s target or whether without new nuclear stations it will simply get blown off course.