Erikka Askeland: Alex Salmond may go green but he should heed the words of Soames

RUPERT SOAMES, the head of temporary power group Aggreko, keeps saying it - but is anyone listening? It is not the first time Soames has warned that, unless the UK gets serious about replacing a 30 per cent drop in energy production due by 2018, the lights will go out.

But First Minister Alex Salmond, for one, wasn't listening - instead he decided to give the lecture on the gaping holes in his energy policy a miss. But he should be listening. Not just because of Soames's impressive parentage (Sir Winston Churchill was his grandfather) or his fruity, entertaining mode of speaking, but because Soames is a world expert about what happens when energy supply goes badly wrong.

When we read about Aggreko, there is usually reference to the nice projects the firm supports with its battery of temporary power generators - the Olympics, Glastonbury, Obama's inauguration. But what is less discussed is how Soames also does deals with governments suffering dodgy energy infrastructure, like Uganda and Angola. Temporary gas generators are not supposed to be a long-term means of powering the lights, but in some of the darker corners of the third world that is all there is.

It's a lucrative business for Aggreko too - in 2009 this sort of business accounted for about 295 million worth of income.

But is Scotland going the way of Angola?

Soames resisted making direct comparisons, but he said we need a "plan B" to the government's current plan of cutting carbon emissions mainly by switching to renewable sources of power. Or we'd be in "deep trouble". According to Soames, plan B involves building more power stations, nukes especially, but it could also be coal or gas. And soon - we will need to start building them in the next two years, he warned.

Even Renewables Scotland, the green energy trade body, acknowledges we will have to build more traditional power stations in the medium term before we reach the nirvana of 50 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2010.

But Soames's views on nukes flies right in the face of SNP policy. Instead, England and Wales will play host to eight new stations due to the SNP's staunch resistance. In October, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne confirmed these will be in Bradwell in Essex, Hartlepool and Heysham in Lancashire, Hinkley Point in Somerset, Oldbury in South Gloucester, Sellafield in Cumbria, Sizewell in Suffolk, and Wylfa off the Welsh coast on Anglesey. But even these proposals won't be ratified until the spring 2011, making it even less likely these can meet Soames' two-year timescale.

Nor will the UK government be spending a dime on the nuclear power stations - instead these will be paid for by the international energy firms that choose to build them, with companies like France's Arriva or American Westinghouse some likely candidates.Soames is critical of government's approach to attracting investment - likening them, in his inimitable way, to hippies slouching in to speak to the bank manager. The UK, he argues, is increasingly an unattractive place to invest in infrastructure.

If he had stuck around to listen, Salmond would probably have pointed out to Soames Iberdrola's planned 3bn investment in renewable energy projects. He might be impressed but it would not be enough to fill the gap

Some renewables projects have hit a rough patch lately, too, throwing up distinct worries about the financial viability of renewables without massive government subsidies. The Duke of Roxburghe may have finally got the go-ahead on his controversial wind farm in the Borders but plans for a the Western Isles Interconnector linking wind farms on the Hebrides to the National Grid have been delayed, perhaps indefinitely. And last month the Danish company Skykon, which took over the Vestas wind turbine factory on Kintyre last year, announced it was suspending payments to its creditors. And the Scottish Government ministerial jury is still squabbling about the 3 billion "clean coal" station planned for Hunterston in Ayrshire.

It's not just Scotland that faces an immense challenge to ensure the lights stay on - it's all of the UK. There's nothing wrong with trying to make Scotland a renewables powerhouse, but there has to be enough power in it to keep the lights on.

Inside every businessman beats the heart of a toy train lover

The company that is sure to put the smile on the face of anyone who was once a young boy but now wears sober business dress has to be train set maker Hornby. Chief executive Frank Martin admitted the firm had some major problems with its Chinese suppliers, hitting first-half profits, but then everyone got distracted by the toys. Wow, look at that digital East Coast Pullman train set. Check out the Scalextric. Up goes the share price almost 5 per cent to 150.5p.

The firm has worked out the bugs in the supply system in time for Christmas and already sales have shown a festive uplift. Martin expects ranges of Toy Story 3 themed toys to be a complete sell out. You can almost imagining him grinning like the boy with the train set under the Christmas tree.