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Scottish Minister says UK fails to meet energy objectives

By: Tom Russell 24/11/2015 Scottish Gov edited by 4C Offshore

General Grid Tidal Windfarms

UK energy policy has been described as ‘inconsistent, incoherent and ineffectual’ by Scotland’s Energy Minister at a major energy conference.

Fergus Ewing made the comments as he accused UK Government of failing to meet its objectives and jeopardising energy security at the International Tidal Energy Summit in London.

Mr Ewing said: “Last week the UK Government made a ‘dash for gas’ to replace the UK’s ageing nuclear and coal plants, a belated recognition of the UK’s energy crunch. While UK energy policy continues to increase bills and weaken security of supply, the Secretary of State’s new approach is inconsistent, incoherent and will be ultimately ineffectual."

“Inconsistent, as the approach is to build new capacity at the lowest cost and let the market decide which technologies prevail, but skews incentives towards more gas and nuclear power."

“Incoherent, as it rules out support for proven, cheap technologies like onshore wind and solar."

“And it will be ineffectual - we urgently need to tackle the parlous state of affairs that has allowed the capacity margin to dwindle to one per cent, yet there are still delays to bringing on new capacity, including the development of renewables in Scotland."

Ewing continued to explain that Scotland "is an energy rich country" and ideal for exploiting natural resources such as tidal.

“The largest planned tidal development project in the world, Meygen in the Pentland Firth, will power 175,000 homes when complete. Orkney developer Scotrenewables has almost finished building its two Megawatt floating tidal turbine, while Edinburgh-based Nova innovation is in the process of installing five turbines as part of the Shetland Tidal Array."

Ewing stated that marine energy has "made huge advances" and in order to further develop technology it needs continued support. He fears that if the Government doesn't continue its support for renewables energy, particularly marine, the UK will fall short of the targets set out by the EU.

“The UK Government must change its course to provide more certainty for investment in new technologies and ensuring the next capacity market auction does more to bring new, clean power generation forward.”

Ewing's statement follows Energy secretary Amber Rudd's statement made last week which outlined her vision for the UK energy system. She stated that the new energy policy would "put consumers first, delivers more competition, reduces the burden on bill-payers and ensures enough electricity generation to power the nation."

The Energy Secretary signalled her intention to develop a cleaner, more secure energy network by consulting on closing coal fired power stations by 2025 and shifting to a gas based system. She also stated the nuclear power would play a more central role in delivering energy to consumers across the UK.

Rudd also explained that in order for offshore wind to get continued support in the form of subsidies the industry would need to continue cutting costs. She explained that should this be met the potential for another 10GW of projects in the 2020's could be a reality.

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Scottish Minister says UK fails to meet energy objectives

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