Can Alex keep the lights on

ON A good day, the coast of Skye can just be made out from the Eishken Estate, at the southern end of the Isle of Lewis. It is one of the most scenic parts of the Western Isles, where sea lochs puncture the rugged landscape. It is also where, if plans are accepted, 53 huge wind turbines may soon be built, as the first step in turning Lewis into one of Scotland’s new energy powerhouses.

Iain McIvor, a trustee of the community body that is backing the scheme, is getting a little impatient. It has been well over three years since plans were handed in to the authorities.
On a visit to Lewis in April, the then First Minister Jack McConnell promised that a decision on the scheme would be announced very soon. But McConnell is no more, and the decision is still awaited. Meanwhile, McIvor is facing some bizarre requests for information from the Scottish Executive – on the impact the scheme will have on the production of fresh-water mussels and on local bats. So the wait drags on, testing the patience of green energy campaigners.

The delays at Eishken are typical – developers of wind farms in Scotland have stories of waiting up to 60 months before being told that the wind farm they wanted to build was to be turned down. Only one wind power farm has been approved over the last year – a tiny return for the dozens of applications currently with officials.

Yet last week, Scotland’s future energy needs were placed squarely at the door of the renewables industry. SNP leader Alex Salmond issued a resounding ‘no’ to building new nuclear power stations north of the border. Nuclear plants now offer 40% of all Scotland’s electricity needs. In future this will have to be found elsewhere.

Many Scots still remember Britain’s power cuts in the Seventies, and supermarkets selling out of candles overnight. The folk memory of that time is still strong. More recently the power black-outs in California have shown that even in the world’s most industrialised economies, getting energy to people’s homes is still a perilous balancing act between supply and demand.

So, this weekend the new SNP government faces searching questions. If nuclear is no longer an option, can places such as Eishken deliver the electricity Scotland needs, and in time for the nuclear shut-down? In his energy strategy is the First Minister gambling with the nation’s economic future? At the most basic level, can Salmond keep the lights on?

Scotsman