Energy crisis as power cuts loom

SCOTLAND is on the brink of a power crisis after an accident at one of the country’s biggest electricity plants massively reduced supplies to the national grid.

Emergency legislation will be rushed through the Scottish Parliament early this week to allow Longannet power station, Fife, to burn gas as well as coal in a bid to stave off potential blackouts.

Longannet has been shut down after a conveyor belt carrying coal collapsed. A nuclear power station is already off-line and widespread power shortages have so far been avoided because of the unseasonably warm weather. “We’re glad it isn’t cold,” one minister admitted last night.

But the government’s critics pounced on the power crisis, saying it was a symptom of the Executive’s failure to deal with the projected gap between energy supply and demand.

Scotsman