Scotland must consider new nuclear, report says

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

An independent report into the Scottish government's renewable energy plans says it could meet a target of 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but that nuclear energy should be considered for long-term energy needs.
 

Torness - to replace or not replace: that is the question (Image: BE)

The report, conducted by independent energy research consultancy Wood Mackenzie on behalf of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), says that, in order to meet its renewable energy target and to continue exporting electricity to England and Northern Ireland, Scotland would need a 500% increase in the number of wind farms by 2020. The report - entitled The Future of Electricity Generation in Scotland - suggests that on-shore wind will provide more than 80% of the increase in renewable electricity by 2020, with marine, biomass and hydro expanding at one-tenth of the rate of new wind.
 

Scotland needs £10 billion ($15 billion) in new electricity generation between now and 2020, the report says. It added that demand for electricity in Scotland would increase by 10% by 2020, despite continued attempts to encourage greater energy efficiency.
 

SCDI's chief economist, Iain Duff, commented: "This study shows that Scotland can hit its ambitious targets to produce 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but only if we see investment in new generation on an unprecedented scale in recent times." He added, "In order to deliver this we need a speedy consents process, with Scotland needing 450 MWe of new wind - more than twice the size of the country's biggest operational wind farm - every year, as well as speedy improvements to grid connections."
 

The report states that new nuclear power should be "considered as a potential part of the longer term generation base in Scotland" due to questions about how existing power plants are replaced with low carbon alternatives beyond 2020. However, it notes that "it seems very unlikely that any development of nuclear generation in Scotland would deliver new capacity before 2020."
 

There are currently two operating nuclear power plants in Scotland, Hunterston and Torness. Each plant houses two Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AGRs) of just over 600 MWe capacity each. Hunterston is scheduled to shut down in 2016, while Torness is expected to close in 2023.
 

Political opposition
 

Following the UK government's announcement in January 2008 that it would welcome a new generation of nuclear power plants being constructed in the UK, the Scottish government declared that it would reject any applications to build new reactors in Scotland. The devolved Scottish parliament later voted 63-58 to oppose any new nuclear power plants.
 

Duff noted, "With Torness and other power stations possibly being decommissioned after 2020, there are still questions about how we provide the baseload Scotland needs in the longer term. Carbon capture and clean coal may be available at that time, but we also believe that new nuclear should still be considered as an option to meet our longer term energy needs."
 

Jim Murphy, the Secretary of State for Scotland, said "We believe that new nuclear stations will play a vital part in helping to supplement UK baseload provision as existing fossil and nuclear stations are decommissioned, and that notwithstanding the considerable natural advantages that we enjoy in Scotland in respect of access to renewables, wind and wave can't by themselves fill the baseload energy gap that will arise in Scotland over the next decade."
 

He added, "Planning remains a devolved issue and Scottish ministers will take the decisions they see fit to take in respect of any proposals for new nuclear stations in Scotland that may come forward from the private sector, but this independent report is a clear endorsement of the UK government's thinking on new nuclear."