Scotland’s renewable energy industry and its supply chain supported more than 47,000 jobs and supported £15.5 billion of output in 2022, new figures show, amid continuing disputes about how many fossil-fuel jobs are at risk under the green new industrial deal. Using the latest data available, Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute reports that offshore wind … [Read more...] about More green energy jobs
renewable energy
The excessive price of the energy Union
Much of rural Scotland - the Highlands, the islands, the Borders - does not have access to the gas grid. Because of the way energy is priced in the UK, it is much more expensive to heat your home with electricity than gas. These areas have an elderly population, a great many of whom face a shivery winter. All the colder now, because of the Labour government’s withdrawal of the … [Read more...] about The excessive price of the energy Union
Energy market reforms must embrace a social tariff
The British energy regulator Ofgem has announced the energy price cap for the last quarter of 2023, including early winter. Gas and electricity should be slightly cheaper than last year, but they are still too expensive. The problem is the cap itself which, as I have written before, was never designed to keep energy affordable. It limits profits for suppliers but not bills for … [Read more...] about Energy market reforms must embrace a social tariff
From Big Oil to Big Wind
The world has a limited time to deal with the climate emergency - Scotland has a part to play. There is urgency. Glaciers are melting fast. And yet what seemed like good news - a successful auction of deep-sea sites for floating wind off Scotland’s coast - went down like a bucket of cold seasick with many commentators last week. The amount of power that could be generated … [Read more...] about From Big Oil to Big Wind
A brief note on wind and hot air
A significant amount of Her Majesty’s seabed was leased out in the ScotWind auctions for the princely sum of around £700m. Rights to projects which may end up with as much as 25GW of capacity (about 20 typical nuclear reactors’ worth) have been acquired.This amounts to the equivalent of almost half of the GB system’s peak electricity demand in a winter day; an inconceivably … [Read more...] about A brief note on wind and hot air