Alex Salmond has been thrown an unexpected lifeline by the UK Government in his campaign to stop the National Grid imposing punitive charges which threaten the future development of renewable power by Scottish electricity companies.
A six-month consultation by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in London has concluded that connection charges should be levied evenly on all developers regardless of where they are located or the difficulty of connecting. If implemented, this policy would mean that remote sources of alternative energy — such as the Highlands — would not face the current high connection costs which threatened to make many of Scotland’s wind farms unviable.
The notion that you should pay extra to connect into the National Grid because you are further away from the main areas of usage is ridiculous. Scotland is self-sufficient in power and has a capacity to produce 25% of all Europe's renewable energy.
There's is a huge potential for this country in terms of employment and wealth in the renewables industry and this time we must not let it be plundered by our near neighbours. This opportunity must be exploited by Scots for Scots. If the 'National Grid' wants to discriminate against Scottish producers, fine. Just construct an UDERWATER CABLE to Europe and we'll export direct to the continent.
