Renewable claims

Published on 24/08/2012 00:00

The response from Niall Stuart of Scottish Renewables (Letters, 23 August) to Christine Jardine’s article is entirely predictable.

Now if the “evidence” contained in his letter had come not from the representative of those who benefit so enormously from the current subsidy regime but from an Independent Energy Commission, it would have meant something to the consumer who pays for these subsidies and presumably the activities of Scottish Renewables.

I am mystified as to why the Scottish Government and some elements of the environmentalist movement refuse to back the call for the establishment of such a commission.

The failure of Scottish Renewables to do so is not surprising, although if it really believed its own “evidence” it would be anxious to have it independently verified given the controversy and suspicion which surrounds its activities.

John Milne

Ardgowan Drive

Uddingston, Lanarkshire

Niall Stuart cites a capital 
investment figure of £2.8 billion invested by the renewables industry and claims that this supported some 11,000 jobs. Perhaps Mr Stuart could tell us how much of this £2.8bn was actually invested in Scotland and specifically benefited Scottish companies, since we do not manufacture actual turbines in Scotland, thus requiring all high-value wind turbine components to be purchased overseas, and a large majority of wind developers are non-UK companies.

A similar question might be asked about the jobs claim – how many Scots are employed in the onshore wind industry?

GM Lindsay

Kinross

Perthshire