‘We want a balanced, sustainable, affordable, secure electricity supply’

SCottish Engineering and our 400 member companies are pro-renewables. We want to see more renewables and we want to see more jobs created. But the problem we’ve got with energy is that we want a balanced, sustainable, affordable, secure supply of electricity.

Those are the four very important words. Balanced because it’s got to be using all technologies, and sustainable because we all want to be good neighbours and don’t want to be ruining the planet.

It has to be affordable because the rate at which utility prices are going up could mean we can’t afford it in future. It has to be secure because we don’t want to have to buy from Mr Putin in Russia – he can threaten to switch it off or double the price.

Many of our members are in the renewables sector and we’re delighted at that. Firms like Burntisland Fabrications are doing some great work, or ScottishPower in the wind and hydro sector. But renewables are wonderful provided we can get the power from where it’s generated to where it’s required.

A lot of the power will be generated in the Highlands and Islands. That’s not where the population is – the population is in the central conurbation. How are we going to get the power there when the grid infrastructure, which is 50 years old, is creaking at the seams and incapable of allowing these renewable sources to tap into the grid as it currently stands?

The planning system in Scotland is terrible. John Swinney said years ago: “I’m going to do something about speeding up planning.” What has he done? Nothing. Until such time as utility companies know where we’re going and how we’re going to get there, how on Earth can we plan for it?

Let’s stop all the political rhetoric. I’m a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and I’ve invited the politicians to commission that independent source of engineering advice, to do a report on sources and prices of electricity and the infrastructure. We need smart grids so that we can tap into new sources like marine energy, if we do eventually get them.

Alex Salmond won’t even mention nuclear. When I was talking to him before the election I said: “Come on Alex – you know that in 2020 we will still have 20 per cent of our electricity coming from nuclear, from Torness and the like.”

He said if we need to extend the life of Torness we can do that. I said: “Well why are you not telling the public that?”

Nuclear needs to be part of the mix. Yes, we want windpower from onshore and offshore, yes we want marine energy. Wind is a great source of energy. But what happens when the wind doesn’t blow?

We need to be realistic. We need to know where the baseload is coming from and Alex Salmond and John Swinney aren’t telling us.

l Dr Peter Hughes is chief executive of Scottish Engineering