Generating confusion

Published on Monday 26 May 2008 21:16

A Scottish Government spokesman forecasts that the rate of growth in electricity generated by renewable sources (excluding hydro) over the next three years will be 46 per cent per annum and that by 2011 the renewable electricity target of 31 per cent (5,000 megawatts) will be met (your report, 23 May). Once again, the Scottish Government persists in mixing up capacity with the much lower levels of actual electricity likely to be generated.

According to Scottish Renewables' website, wind farm installed capacity is 1,240.88 MW and accounts for 43 per cent of total renewable installed capacity. Assuming that wind farm installed capacity will be at a similar percentage of total renewable energy capacity in 2011, the actual electricity generated by renewables will be only in the region of 3,000 MW (assuming wind farms operate at a generous 33 per cent of installed capacity and the other renewable energy sources at 80 per cent of capacity), which is not 31 per cent but 19 per cent of electricity energy generated in Scotland. In the meantime, we can be sure not one fossil-fuel power station will be decommissioned and the consumer and the environment will pay the cost of a misdirected subsidy-driven policy.

ALAN J BLACK

Camus Avenue

Edinburgh

James Bowman (Letters, 22 May) claims we are all aware the majority of electrical power in Canada and the Scandinavian countries comes from hydro-power. This is true of Canada (58 per cent) and Norway (99 per cent), but Denmark produces hardly any electricity this way and Sweden produces less than half (46 per cent).

Hydro-electricity seems simple but has many drawbacks, not least the unreliability inherent in using rainfall for supply. Due to the damage it can do to the landscape, it may well be unwelcome. In fact, nearly all the viable sites for dams in the UK have already been exploited.

STEUART CAMPBELL

Dovecot Loan

Edinburgh