Now England’s fossil-fuel power stations keep Scotland’s lights on.
Nicola Sturgeon shares the responsibility for this error.
Keith Anderson, ScottishPower, who made Scotland beholden to England.
Source @UK_Imports from National Grid ESO
For 5 days, 25th to 29th of April 2022, at times of low wind power generation, Scotland required about 1 GW or more of electrical back-up power to be imported from England, generated from fossil fuel.
Scotland has plenty of renewable energy resources such as windfall trees which could be turned into biomass fuel pellets and burned in solid-fuel power stations with enough capacity to meet the shortfalls in wind power and keep Scotland on course for our transition to Net Zero carbon dioxide emissions.
Once upon a time, Scotland had a mighty solid-fuel power station which could burn biomass called “Longannet” – but profiteering corporate executives in ScottishPower ordered it demolished.
I opposed that counter-productive demolition but Scotland’s politicians didn’t save Longannet and indeed nowadays Nicola Sturgeon would rather have a photo op with the ScottishPower executive and Vandal-in-Chief Keith Anderson than do anything effective to get to Net Zero or to make Scotland independent of power imports from England it seems.
Scots don’t have to keep fossil-fuelling the climate emergency. There is a better way.
In 2015, I published a scientific plan that would have by 2020 transitioned Scotland to Net Zero, 100% renewable energy, ending all use of fossil fuels and we would have been able to export a lot more wind power to help get England towards Net Zero too.
The powers-that-be in Scotland didn’t bother following my science then. They still aren’t following the science. They should and they must.
5th June 2023
2nd July 2023
In the month of June 2023, Scotland imported net 26GWh of electrical energy from England.
The collapse of the electricity export business in Scotland during low wind months follows the closure of 2 power stations – Hunterston B nuclear and Longannet coal / biomass – and the wilful neglect of the UK Tory government, OFGEM and the privatised National Grid, failing to invest in other backup power capacity, from such as –
- Biomass, Solar, Tidal power
- Energy storage and regeneration –
Pumped storage hydro / Green hydrogen
This free-market shambles threatens security of supply and power cuts.
Scottish Scientist 
The area UNDER Zero looks to equal the area ABOVE Zero, making it a net wash.
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What would a “net wash” for whisky imports with exports do for the Scottish economy and balance of trade? Not good most likely.
Likewise a “net wash” of energy imports with exports may not be great for the Scottish economy, unless the price of imports were a lot cheaper than exports, unless Scotland was importing cheap surplus English wind energy, storing it in Scottish pumped hydro schemes, and then selling it at a profit to customers in England at times of low wind generation.
However, that is not the case with the imports from England under consideration here. Those were produced from additional gas generation and England exporting its gas-generated power to Scotland rather than elsewhere. So the price would have been high and the power was needed for customers, not energy storage, so the energy gets used up and can’t be sold on at a higher price later.
Buying fossil-fuel generated power from England also defeats Scotland’s aim to get to Net Zero fossil-carbon emissions – to stop our use of fossil fuels which pollute the atmosphere with additional fossil carbon dioxide and cause global warming. The blame for that climate crime is Scotland’s too, not just England to blame for burning the fossil fuel gas – but Scotland to blame too for using the power produced from that fossil fuel gas.
So for multiple reasons it is a grubby compromise to import fossil-fuelled power from England. It keeps our lights on thank goodness but it doesn’t help our balance of trade and does harm to the climate.
It would be so much better for Scotland’s balance of trade and for our Net Zero aims if Longannet had been saved and used to burn our windfall trees for back-up power.
It will weaken Scotland in negotiations and trading with England if we don’t have strong energy exports to trade with England for other goods and services. Do you want Scotland poor and a beggar on its knees to England, because that is what will happen if Scotland is not a power-exporting country?
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