Energy chief calls on government to back power stations

ONE of Scotland's top business figures last night demanded the coalition government give the go-ahead for a new generation of power stations.

Rupert Soames, chief executive of Aggreko, the temporary power provider, sent a message to new Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne, that the issue could not be left to the markets alone and that government had responsibility for assuring the security of supply.

Speaking at the annual dinner of Scottish Engineering, the manufacturers' trade body, he said: "I am really concerned that without rapid effective action, Britain is going to face very serious power shortages over the next five to ten years.

"At best, we will be facing periods when the security of supply is on a knife-edge. At worst, we will face serious, repeated power cuts. I am not alone in believing the lights could, very literally, go out. The consequences of this for Britain as a modern economy would be devastating."

He said he did not envy the minister in his new role as he had to combine a shortage of money with managing a "very complicated problem".

Soames, whose company is a recent entrant to the FTSE100, said Huhne needs to tell people there is a real risk the lights will go out – but without sending the bond market into a tailspin.

"The resolution of this issue cannot be left to the market alone and he should accept that, ultimately, government has responsibility for assuring the security of supply," he said. "It cannot just be a bystander. The government, informed by the best engineering advice available, is entitled to a view of how much power generation, and of what type, it wants installed over the next ten years."

But government needs to create the environment in which investors will find it attractive to build both renewable and thermal (nuclear] power generation, he said. "Without this, we won't get anything built, and we need to start building fast.

"It is going to be very difficult for a coalition government whose life might be limited, fighting interest groups squealing to protect their funding, to create a sense of urgency about something which is not currently an issue for voters. When the lights go out, then it will be easy to get the political attention that is required.

"But by then, the damage will be done and it will take years to correct."