Legislation News

Thursday 13 November 2008

The suggested partners in the North Sea supergrid programme (coloured dark blue) in the Scottish pre-scoping study have a notable exception

The Scottish Government has called on the European Commission to back the development of a "supergrid" to allow the easy transfer of renewable energy between countries around the North Sea.

First Minister Alex Salmond said yesterday he had written to EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs to request that the issue is included within the Commission's imminent Strategic Energy Review.

"We are hopeful that our case will be considered positively in the review when it is published," he said.

Mr Salmond was speaking as a pre-scoping study was published yesterday, suggesting that a full feasibility study regarding a North Sea supergrid would require funding to the tune of £409,200.

The study outlined the "supergrid" concept as an undersea network of cables between Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

However, the report pointedly leaves out the possibility of Scotland's neighbour to the south, England, from being part of any potential partnership, despite its extensive North Sea coast.

The Scottish Nationalist leader explained: "This pre-scoping study defines the potential for a full study to examine the technical, economic, social and financial feasibility of the development of an offshore transmission supergrid. It will allow us to explore the opportunities associated with the development of an offshore transmission network, and help make the case for commercial investment."

Trading

The study assembled this summer by Manchester-based consultants, Sinclair Knight Merz, suggests that an offshore grid will allow the EU countries taking part to trade energy between themselves when each experiences reduced offshore generation.

The grid will also allow excess power to be traded, while the international co-operation would help provide economies of scale "both during installation, and then later in relation to operation and maintenance activities".

Mr Salmond said the project would be a "major step forward" in Scotland's renewable energy ambitions, claiming 25% of Europe's offshore wind power potential was to be found in Scottish waters.

He said: "I have long argued that a North Sea offshore supergrid will encourage renewable generation and exports from Scotland, and also contribute to future energy security in Europe. We can export power from energy-rich northern Europe, to the energy-poorer areas."

Commenting on the supergrid project, Mr Salmond pledged: "We will continue to work with our North Sea neighbours and the EC with a view to formalising a partnership to make the exciting concept of a supergrid a reality."

Devolution question

The fact that the word "England" does not appear once within the offshore supergrid pre-scoping study - and the term "UK" appears only three times, as footnotes - while perhaps coincidental comes as the Edinburgh government's frosty relations with the Westminster government took another turn for the worse this week.

In a submission to the Commission on Scottish Devolution, the Westminster government questioned the Scottish government's powers in the energy field.

These devolved powers relate only to the Renewables Obligation and the planning and consents system. But, through the planning system the Edinburgh administration had already stated its intention to block proposed new nuclear plants.

This week's submission to the independent commission reviewing the first 10 years of Scottish devolution included a threat that if the Scottish government wants an entirely independent energy system from the rest of the UK, it could flounder.

The report noted that Scottish renewable energy projects are currently providing more energy than Scotland's own Renewables Obligation, and that the ability of Scottish renewable projects to sell their Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) down south means that English and Welsh taxpayers are effectively paying £50 million for Scottish renewable energy.

To have an independent Scottish ROCs (SROCs) system would mean an oversupply of ROCs, which would lead to a price collapse for Scottish renewable energy projects.

"Scottish Ministers would be able to prevent this by increasing the level of the Obligation in Scotland but the additional cost would be borne by electricity consumers in Scotland," the Westminster-based Department for Energy and Climate Change suggested.

Commission on Scottish devolution was also told by the UK government that an independent Scottish energy system might put off investors from energy projects, stating: "Similarly legislative frameworks across the UK have more advantages in attracting potential investors, rather than a series of very different regimes across the different jurisdictions within the UK."